In the Depths
by LadyDi
Summary: Though she couldn't bring herself to leave, she always had the option to go. Nathaniel was very understanding of her thoughts to the world above and she knew he wouldn't mind if she was gone for a sun or two. He knew she would come back to where she belonged and she knew she would too.
1. Making the journey

The ocean came in a myriad of colors depending on where one was at. It could be as blue as the sky on the other side, allowing all the sunlight in the world to shine into the shallows, or it could as be as dark as nothing and not allow those without the ability to see in the dark to notice anything mere paces away from their face.

The temperature reflected the color of the water much in the same way; the dark equated freezing depths with little heat while the light meant warmth and the ability to stop moving without needing to keep warm.

Where one lived also dictated certain characteristics depending on help or harm from the light...or lack thereof. Those who managed to see sunlight and feel the warm waters often times held lighter physical features, should they be so lucky to have them. Or the exact opposite would be true and their skin would turn color from the rays of the sun. Some species that roamed the warmer waters or occasionally poked their heads above the waves had been affected and passed those traits on to others.

Those who stayed closer to the bottom, away from prying eyes, blended in with their surroundings and developed certain things to allow them to see in the dark so they could find their way. They usually couldn't see what they looked like so well, but in the depths looks weren't important unless it was for defense.

The ocean, being as vast and different as it was, was governed by so many beings to keep control to the ever-shifting tides. Order had been established for a long time and certain families would be in charge of communicating various things in their area to other clans. The word of any lesser status would not be taken and the person considered a spy; possibly attacked and even eaten for wandering where they shouldn't. Thus, only the children of ruling families had such security and more often than not, one would see the children swimming around as messengers to other ruling families.

Traveling across the waters was always a scary thing, especially for those going from lighter to darker areas. It was easier for those living in the depths to come up, even if they were more exposed because the light shone on them and made them brighter than they ever wanted to be. The anonymity of the black murkiness was more often a comfort as opposed to the keen ability to see. However, because of the ability to traverse the black easier, it was often those from the depths that had to travel higher up toward the lighter waters to bring news. Only they couldn't handle such pressure which would kill someone from higher waters.

She didn't want to go up there for so many reasons. Light reflected off her scales and made her a brighter target than in the lower waters. Down there she was only a dull red which barely managed a glimpse past the length of her arms. It made her highly uncomfortable to let the light touch her and make her glow with every movement. She liked being in the darkness and glide through unseen.

She resented having to come up here to the warmth. Too much danger roamed in the brighter areas and she was always wary whenever she was forced to cross the distance and give her reports.

She was supposed to meet someone and finish the distance. She had requested it after almost being caught by something she had never seen before en route to give her previous report. It had nearly taken a chunk out of her tail, but quick thinking and her toxins had saved her. She refused to be so foolish and before she set off for home, she demanded to the ruler that she be escorted by those that knew the area better than her.

She was a sitting duck up here and she hated it. Since they found it too cold and pressurized where she was, too much of a bother she thought, she figured this one thing wouldn't be too hard to have granted. Such a clan was well-known for offense and she could at least rest easy with that.

The waters were bright enough to be able to see her in any movement as she whirled around to check if her escort was coming. The fast shifting made the sun catch on her tail, flashing red in the light and causing the pearl white to her skin to glow. The near translucent color to her pale eyes reflected the light and shone a little as well.

She was a ball of light and she could see herself reflect off the water around her. It made her highly uneasy and she kept looking around for enemies that might stalk her out here above the rocks. The beads to her top floated as she kept moving, their luminescence not helping the situation either.

Never in her life did she want to hide so badly, but she was to wait where she could be seen...as fearful of a thing as that was.

Moments passed, the sound of her brushing the water around as she moved, the thrashing of her wide tail as she tried to present as big a picture as she could. She should have thought to bring a weapon! Maybe next time, if her escort was less than adequate for her standards, she would consider asking her father to provide her with such. Since they didn't have the ability to spare guards, and she was usually more than capable of taking care of herself in most situations, she never bothered until that latest brush with death.

That had probably been a special instance, but she wasn't taking such a chance a second time.

In one of the many whirls, a shock of color was seen through the distance. That patch reflected, gleaming as it slowly moved from left to right.

She paused in her movements, tail anxiously keeping her in position and her eyes on what was coming her way. Her hands arched out in possible need to defend herself, heart racing away from her. If necessary, the string of pearls connected to her top could serve as a short-term weapon till she could escape. The thought to using her toxins so easily wasn't a welcome one, but it would allow her to get to safety.

The movement was slow, but not in a labored way. It was almost calculating, deliberate. She squinted as the light gave her more details than she wanted with her ability to catch almost anything in any amount of light.

Yellow hair. Somewhat darkened skin. Darkened top and light lower half of a tail. Stripes on the sides to match the sunlight streaming into water.

She gasped and anxiously swam back a few beats of her tail. The tiger clan! They were well-known predators, fierce and determined. Their reputation for eating pretty much anything was scary and she wanted to believe that this shark-kin was her escort and not some random clan member out hunting for food.

She followed the movements of what was clearly a male as it swam around her. It was normal habit for any shark-kin to approach anything they stalked in such a manner. The movements didn't seem predatory though and she had to hope that this clan member was her guide. How else would this one creature manage to be at the exact same spot as her? Wide eyes flashed as she kept taking him in, fingers digging into her flesh in shaking fear.

Even if she was easy to recognize and punish would be dealt to the offender, provided she survived getting eaten, they were in the middle of nowhere and there was no one to help her. If any mistake was made, she may not make it high enough to their home for her report.

Did he not know that she was here? Did someone not tell him she was going to be waiting here for his assistance?

Her eyes narrowed as she took in the face she could now see. He was watching her with interest in his eyes, a slight smile on his lips. When he got just within arm's reach, his tail altered his stance and allowed him to mimic more of hers.

"Don't be scared princess." He lightly responded, hand reaching out. His fingers were outspread, face slightly neutral. "Or...perhaps that's why I'm here today? I heard you requested an escort to speak with my father for your report."

Was that a jab to her family or her inability to travel by herself? Her eyes flashed with the sun as she gave him a hard look, staring from his face to his hand. "You looked like you were going to attack me! I've already had my brush with death for this lifetime. I prefer to not have another."

The defensive need to release her toxins abated as did most of her nerves. Her arms crossed uncomfortably. "Since your kind are pathetically unable to come down to our land, we are forced to come up here." Her head turned away, causing the onyx and red locks to swish in front of her face. "Perhaps if you'd adapt a little more, we wouldn't be the ones doing all the work."

"A harsh little Tench..." He easily replied, lips tilting. He met pale, pale blue eyes that turned white with the light bouncing off them and made her a little eerie.

The blood red of her tail allowed him to see her from a far distance and easily spot her. Yet, for as bright as she was, the rest of her was pale as a set of bones picked clean. The shocking black of her hair, made almost blue by the light, was yet another stark contrast to her look. She was definitely different from those of his land and yet she was beautiful in the detail of her tail and the pearls she wore from her father. They denoted her status and told him exactly where she was from and how high she was.

"Come now princess. You requested aide to see my father and I'm here to see that through. You've nothing more to fear. Shall we go?"

His hand was still outstretched for her to take. He was serious in having her touch him...

She stared at it for a wave of his tail before her fingers reached out and took his. His skin was warm and darker in comparison with her own once their flesh intertwined. It was something of an interesting dichotomy, but one she put aside as she nodded.

"Lead the way."

 _artist pic inspiration: maysoulrose tumblr com/post/145086535131/i-needed-to-take-a-little-break-from-a-little-art_


	2. Giving the report

It was so bright up here...as it always was. Despite having come here a few times to talk to the ruler, she never got used to this place. Everything felt strange and everything looked strange.

The fact that she could see so far ahead made her nervous. She couldn't feel the pressure of those around her because of how light everything felt and she didn't like it at all. Creatures of different shapes, sizes, and colors roamed around as she neared the reef which the tiger clan roughly proclaimed their home. She supposed that with her coloring, it was easier to blend in here amongst the other colorful fish, but she only felt unease.

The waters were so light that she could see way up near the surface from where they were! They arrived at a tall, fairly clean outcrop of dead coral rising up in many directions. No matter how far in they swam, the 'walls' were all around them. A few times she glanced over, she could see caves around the jagged edges with some of the clan swimming in and out of them.

Amongst one of the walls, surrounded by his own, was the current ruler of the tiger shark clan. When they neared, those around him turned her way and she didn't miss the slight looks of disgust before they were shunted. She purposely kept her own face void of any emotions, as if she were facing a predator.

The looks were nothing new and one would think she'd be used to them by now, but she never was. They looked at her like she was some kind of scum-crawling being that licked muck off the floor of the deep waters. She had met those things and indeed they were horrible to look at in appearance and nasty in temperament, but she was not such a creature!

In all fairness, the tiger clan had their own horrible reputation that caused issues for many other creatures in upper and lower waters. They were known for eating anything, even things from the human world, and that brought fear into the waters because of their idiocy. She knew of this and a part of her found them slightly inept and lacking a sense of intelligence for this stigma which they brought upon others. Not that she would ever tell them such. Harsh feelings with such an offensive clan was never a good idea. And while she may be able to retreat to the depths where they couldn't follow, the deep waters and lower waters had to know what was going on above, at least on occasion.

She stopped near with her guide and confidently looked to the others giving her horrible eyes. They looked to the ruler, gave quick excuses, and swam away in different directions as if she would eat them. Good! Let them run before she bared her pointy teeth and released her toxins in the water on them all! She didn't know if she would be able to hold back a triumphant smile at seeing them all paralyzed because of her.

"Thank you for coming to give your report in the daytime Marinette. I know the darkness makes it more comfortable for you, but we may attack you if you are hard to see."

"With as red as she is, good sir? I highly doubt that. She looks like a swath of blood in the water." There was a small smacking of the lips. "Tasty..."

Cold, ice-blue eyes flashed as they turned to open disgust. She stared at long, blond hair and an ornate crown of seashells resting amongst the tied locks. Darkened skin matched the others around her, though the tail was different. While there was something of a color differentiation in the darker top and lighter bottom, there were no stripes and no other distinctive colorings on the fins. She wasn't from this clan and Marinette was thankful for that! She didn't want to have to go around the huge chunk of land to give her report to such an insufferable clan as Cloe's!

She was the worst one to work with in all that Marinette had been forced to go out of her way to visit. Chloe absolutely refused to go farther than this area because...well, Marinette knew it was because she was a coward and despite being of the reef shark clan, she didn't act like she could protect herself. Even with sharp teeth, a good sense of smell, and good eyesight, Chloe complained loud and long about having to go past the upper or middle waters, let alone by herself. It was something of a given though, with as big as the reef clan was. Chloe was never alone and forced to fend for herself. Marinette bet she had a guide to get to this section of the reef too.

She had only reported to the reef clan's home once and that had been enough on both sides. Chloe told her father that 'such a gaudy being' would only bring the humans down on them with as bright as she was. Marinette was full aware that Chloe shared the sentiments of many around her in that she was a disgusting bottom feeder because of how she looked and where she lived.

Thankfully, after such a complaint, which she was sadly fully able to hear, she never needed to stop over again. She merely gave her reports to the tiger clan who passed them along to the reef clan.

The tension was there, and the two males could almost reach out and touch it should they so want to. Father looked to son who nodded before his son reached a hand out in between the two females, a congenial smile on his face. "Chloe," He evenly began, "if you are still not ready to head home after your report, perhaps you could accompany me hunting? I was getting a little hungry after the journey and thought to find myself something amidst the reef."

Chloe's look of open disapproval almost instantly turned to one of happiness. "Why Adrien, I thought you'd never ask." She gushed, going to swim around him eagerly. She floated just above him, the pearls in her head piece and top glowing a little. "You lead the way then and I'll follow besides you."

There was almost a triumphant look sent her way, as if it were a race to spend time with Adrien, before Chloe's tail beat extra hard near her face upon depart. The water swished her way, a little dust in the rocks coming out to engulf her and the party. A hand waved at the particles around her, but it would take a little bit for them to settle enough without trying to blind her.

"That...insufferable female..." She coughed, tongue sticking out as the dust got in her mouth. Her tail thrashed a few times before she took hold of her movements, lest they give away how much she would love to take a chunk out of Chloe's top fin.

There was a sigh and a shake of the head next to her. "I would prefer if she leave a little earlier myself to be honest, but I don't want to start anything. It is an open reef and many come and go as they wish. Come Marinette, perhaps we can swim a little further in for some peace and quiet and you can give me your report there."

She nodded and took in shocking blond hair and wise eyes. The tail coloring was the same as Adrien's, but the youthful stripes were gone to show his mark of adulthood.

She looked around at the few inhabitants still in the area, preferring a less open space herself. Open areas had always been a place of danger and such a feeling was never going to shake itself from her, no matter where she went.

A hand waved in front of them, a small smile on her face. "Please Gabriel, lead the way."

Gabriel nodded and swam at an idle pace, watching the water change colors as Marinette's tail bounced off it. He didn't go too far amongst the outcrop before stopping, randomly beating his tail to keep somewhat upright. "Now, please give your report."

Marinette nodded and began. She had a few months worth of areas to go into before even starting on her own home. She recapped with perfect memory those of other deep water clans somewhat near her area. Life down there was usually uneventful, save for the strange carcass that managed to get to the bottom and provide enough food for a while...though many were unable to eat their fill with the pressure. Those places were always plagued with a lack of abundant food, unlike up here, and she was happy to give something good to report this time around.

She described the areas she had been to as well, telling of landmarks and the major lack of changes. No one in the clans she visited had anything dire to say about them when she was there, but she didn't know if things would have changed by now. "Any time an emergency happens," She added, "the children are usually swift to head out and inform us. Even with the amount of predators in the distance between our homes. I want to take such silence as a good thing."

Gabriel nodded and swam around a little to take a good breath through the gills on his back. "It's refreshing to know that things stay the same...even in a few areas." He agreed.

She followed his movements and stopped when he did. She reported on the lower waters and the few clans she had traveled to see. There were a few reports of large, dead whale carcasses bringing food down, which pleased them greatly of course. One of the clans reported that they had seen some strange thing shining in the distance and carefully took note of it. It wasn't any kind of fish because the light it gave off was too bright and almost blinded everything in its path.

"It shone like the sun in spots, they said." She recanted with a thoughtful look on her face. "Thankfully, no one got close to it, but they said it moved slowly and bubbles came from it on occasion. It made some strange noises unlike what any of them knew. They could see its body shine and it looked like it was one solid color..."

"Hmm, sounds like maybe the humans went to the lower waters. If nothing happened that you know of, they may have just been curious about that area." Gabriel mused, hand on his chin. "We've seen them occasionally go down into the depths and some of the clan has followed in curiosity, but never gotten close enough to be noticed. Not that it's hard; humans have weak eyesight we've found out. Especially under water."

So did many creatures that went that far down, like his clan, but she didn't voice such a thought. Gabriel was one who never harbored negative thoughts toward her and never showed her bad faces. Whether it was to keep the peace as ruler or because he was used to her, she didn't know.

She was just glad that he and his son were different than most because the ruling families always dealt with the ruling families. Many others had never seen each other in their entire lives, let alone such different areas outside their homes. The only other ones in her clan who had seen sunlight were her parents.

Feeling that the creature had been properly explained, she tucked that piece of information away to give to the clans next time she was there after she recuperated. They would either be happy or scared to know that humans were trespassing into their lands for whatever unknown reason.

"That is the end of my report sir." She finalized with a nod. "Is there anything you would like to tell me of the upper and middle waters before I head home?"

"Oh? You're not staying long? I wondered what you would do when you finished."

She looked away with tight lips. She never liked staying up here for longer than she could help it. Given the severe pressure of the depths and the lack of it up here, there was always a horrible adjustment period awaiting her return home. Her entire body hurt so bad whenever she got back to the caves and it was a while before she felt better to go out and even find food in open waters.

She snapped to when she noticed him staring at her for an answer. "Uh...well, I may wait till nightfall to head down." She murmured, looking around at the light still around. The thought of swimming through it like she did to get up here only made anxiety pierce her. "Though I can camouflage my tail much like your clan does, I prefer to go through the darkness. While I can see perfectly fine, as you know, I would also like a guide for the trip down since I'm lacking an offensive weapon."

Gabriel knew of all the defensive capabilities Marinette possessed, but said nothing. He merely nodded and looked around, as if his son were swimming up to them right now. "Adrien will escort you back to as far down as the pressure will allow." He looked back and found her nodding in agreement. "Now then," A hand went to his chin again as he circled her a few times in thought, "where to begin first?"

He started with his home area in the upper waters and gave reports on all the comings and goings of humans since her last arrival. There had been a few close calls with divers and fishermen, but thankfully none of his clan ended up getting pulled out of the water for whatever their interest was.

He went on to recant Chloe's report of her own area. Divers and tourists were there quite often, but none of the reef clan was stupid enough to attack anyone. They all knew what would happen, what had happened when humans were enraged, and the reef clan had adopted many irritated stances to show they were not happy with such visitations or nearness.

He expanded past the upper waters and explained the things that the bottle-nose and white-sided clans had seen during their travels and migrations. The ships, the people, the animals...

Marinette smiled as she thought to those she knew of, but rarely saw. The children of the dolphin clans Gabriel spoke of were very friendly and intelligent. Their pods were huge, making them very personable with those they interacted with and the few times she met them, they were always very friendly to her despite the severe difference in appearance.

She smiled at their mention. "Please give Nino and Alya my regards the next time you happen to see them." Her smile widened when Gabriel nodded and continued with what her friends had seen.

The dolphin clans always seemed to have the best reports. Granted, they were second or third-hand from other clans, but the basic chunks of information always remained the same. No one ever doctored the information they learned when other children visited. That was the major responsibility of the children of the ruling families, to report what they had seen or heard as close to the truth as possible.

In this way, they built so many different qualities that would enable them to be good rulers in the future.

Before much longer, all details had been swapped in full and memorized, but the day hadn't ended far enough for her comfort. The light shifted and retreated in its position in the sky, but not as much as she would have liked in order to return home.

There wasn't much else to do aside from find food to help with the journey. Adrien had yet to return from his 'outing' with Chloe. She was only upset in the fact that she would have to roam the reefs by herself and listen to the snide remarks which otherwise would have been kept silent with his presence. A few harsh looks from her, eyes flashing like globes of light, and they sullenly swam away though.

Her primary defense as visitor to this area was that no one dared touch her. If any tiger clan thought to attack her, Gabriel would be swift and harsh in his punishment. He may just attack the member himself and bite off some part...or even eat the offender. The tiger clan was a fierce predator and as such, he had to be strict with them to keep order.

She never attempted to be outwardly hostile without reason. Any harsh looks she gave were result of hearing the words she knew all too well toward her clan in the deep waters. She never put up with such things, but that didn't mean she was going to attack someone over them. She knew what her presence in this area did to others and that's one of the reasons why she tried not to come up unless necessary.

"You're sure easy to spot from far away."

She whirled around to the congenial voice and pulled loose hair from her face. She paused in her search for food amongst the reef walls and waited as he swam up to her. She kept going when he was almost upon her and kept her eyes open for something edible.

"Not going to talk to me after those comments I made earlier, are you?"

Was the guilt intentional or did he actually feel bad for saying them? She looked away and refused to turn to him in her search. "I'm looking for food..." She muttered.

He gave an amused noise and she looked at him in annoyance because of it. "Around here? Surely you jest! There's nothing good amongst the rocks here!" He gave her a grin and showed off his serrated teeth. His eyes narrowed a little at her. "How about I take you out in open water and we'll get you something good to fill up on for the journey?"

She regarded him with a small sense of dislike. "I thought you had already gone hunting with Chloe?"

He scoffed and shook his head, turning to go up and around the walls. She followed and stopped as they peeked out on the wide expanse of nothing. "Actually, that was more of a careful ploy to send her off back to her own reef on the other side of the human rock." His lips slyly tilted. "I oh-so-casually headed in that direction till we were almost halfway there. By the time we were that far, I managed to get her to leave the rest of the way and said I'd send her escort home once I returned. Now that I've done so, I would like to accompany you for your meal...if you so wish."

She didn't know what to make of his almost playful attitude. She didn't like to spend much time with other clans of this area, preferring to say what she needed and head home as soon as possible. She interacted with him and his father a little, but didn't know Adrien. Not that she wanted to. The Tench clan and Tiger clans would never be more than clans far apart in the water.

"I can't eat much or I'll regret it once I get to the pressure." She mumbled, giving a few idle swishes of her tail.

He turned to her and quietly studied her. "What do you normally eat down there in the blackness?"

"...Snow..."

He made a noise of distaste and showed it. "Snow? Uck! I suppose you'd have to...but... You're up here so you may as well have a proper meal before you go back to that."

Nails dug into her flesh as she leveled him with an unhappy look. Was he throwing out more of those comments on purpose or was he just stupid? She almost had a mind to ignore him and go hungry for however many hours she had to wait, but all this movement was going to make her regret it...even more so than a full stomach in the intense pressure.

She looked far into the waters with help of the light. Even dim, she saw the whole clan in the distance. Being with him and his words wasn't much better than being alone, and those of his clan may think he was putting himself out too much for her benefit. Still, if his nearness kept their words from her ears, what she could hear all too clearly, then it may just be to her benefit.

"I don't need much." She gave in, slowly heading around the top. "Something small should be enough to get me by till we leave."

"Well, if we happen to stumble on something big, you can take what you want and I'll eat the rest." He suggested, easily catching up to swim at her side. He cast her a look, finding her already focused on looking for danger up ahead with stern concentration on her face. His lips tilted in amusement at how paranoid she was. "By the way, I heard you needed help going home too. When do we leave?"

Her teeth could've bitten her tongue off in her attempt to keep from saying something nasty to him.

She was silent until they had well-cleared the reef and were in open waters. She was already bypassing most of his presence to feel around her as far as she could in such loose particles. "When the light is gone from your waters and darkness falls." She finally returned, hardly even paying attention to him anymore.

 _Soft_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=0c0FBSUd1Hk_

 _Adrien's_ _home_ _inspiration:_ _safarimaris_ _eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/North-Horn-Osprey-Reef-Coral-Sea-Australia_ _jpg_

" _Snow":_ _oceanservice_ _noaa_ _gov/facts/marinesnow_ _html_

 _Ocean layers: commons wikimedia_ _org/wiki/File : Pelagiczone svg_

 _UPPER_ _WATERS:_ _Epipelagic_ _level,_ _surface – 650_ _feet_

 _MIDDLE_ _WATERS:_ _Mesopleagic_ _level,_ _650 – 3300_ _feet_

 _LOWER_ _WATERS:_ _Bathypleagic_ _level,_ _3300 – 13,000_ _feet_

 _DEEP_ _WATERS:_ _Abyssopleagic_ _and_ _Hadopleagic_ _levels,_ _13,000_ _feet – bottom_ _of_ _the_ _trench_


	3. A dark swim home

Darkness. Beautiful darkness. Although it masked enemies, it hid her from them as well. Even though 'night' had fallen to the reef of the tiger clan, her eyes still picked up so much with the help of very little. She would only consent that real darkness was what surrounded her home in every second of one's life. No light touched such a place unless it came from the things that glowed as means of finding a mate or their own offensive nature.

With the lack of light came the innate sense of paranoia and need for safety. The lack of pressure up here was more of a detriment than it was a help and she had no idea what was out there, let alone past her amazing eyesight. In her home, she would be able to feel out those before she got too close, mainly because she couldn't see them. Up here, at least until they got to the lower waters, she could feel nothing and she didn't like it.

"I need a weapon." She murmured, looking around as they faced the way down.

He looked her way in slight amusement. "A weapon? You? Uh, you have me here you know..."

She gave him an unimpressed look. "You'll only be good for so far. You're not planning to accompany me all the way home because you can't. I'll be in no shape to get through the deep waters by myself without a constant sense of offense. I need a weapon."

How bad was such a place he had never been to? Would never be to? He had heard stories, but never gave them much mind. The children who came up from the depths often looked scarier than what he pondered at what roamed down there. He said nothing to her insistence; merely shrugged and turned around with one good push from his tail, heading to the caves in the reefs.

She followed without a word, quietly watching as he entered past one of the jagged edges and waited outside. She could see somewhat into the cave, but didn't want to go hitting her tail on something sharp when she was about to head out. Blood in the water was the last thing she needed.

He returned as quietly as he swam in and handed over something mostly wrapped in seaweed. She took it and brought the object to her face, examining the ridges that she felt in the handle. It was some kind of curved bone and her fingers ran over some thought out design. Her hand gently went over the bottom part, feeling the end poke her as she carefully touched it.

She finally nodded and held onto it with both hands. This would do quite well.

She looked to him with a small, grateful smile and felt better. He nodded back and the pair turned to their exit again, this time heading up and around the reef wall to open water.

There was no need to hurry down because she had to get used to the pressure as it closed back around her. The feeling of slowly being squeezed after internally ballooning out was never a good one and it took a lot of concentration to not focus on it. She had to watch for enemies despite her escort still there with her. She didn't want to get soft and count on his presence because he would only be good for so far down. She would then be by herself and relying on him for half of the trip would only send her into a panic once he was gone.

"Sure is quiet."

She gave a slightly annoyed look to the blackness.

"It's definitely getting harder to see you down here too."

She stifled a sigh.

"How far down are we now anyway? I can't believe anything is going to be just hanging around, waiting for us to pass by them."

She worried she was going to crack a tooth with as much as she was clenching her jaw.

"You're sure quiet... Don't you talk when you travel?"

"YOU talk too much!" She hissed, finally whipping her head his way. She glared at him and gripped the bone weapon in her hands as if she sensed danger. She took a deep breath and tried to keep from thrashing her tail too quickly in order to conserve energy. "Talking is going to be your undoing and mine if you keep it up! What can't see can feel and hear; remember that."

He smiled a little and looked around as if someone were near. "We're fine. I can smell danger before it shows up. Besides, what kind of creatures are larger than me down here?"

"There are those that can unhinge their jaws and attempt to eat one as big as you..." She murmured, trying not to shudder in memory of the big-mouthed eels she was all too aware of. She took a deep breath for strength and hugged the sharp weapon to her torso.

She was hard to see, though he bet she could still see him, but he looked her way anyway. "I don't think you'll need to use that. My teeth will make short work of anything coming our way before then."

She glowered and forced herself to keep from brandishing it at him in her anxiety. She kept looking in as many directions as possible, head and torso starting to become pained as the water squeezed her organs. It was normal for her, but after so many hours of not having the feeling, it returned with a vengeance and all she wanted was to stop swimming and rest to adapt to it, but that made her a sitting target. She bet he wasn't much better, but his bones were stronger and thicker than hers, though whatever was keeping him afloat was probably in pain.

"Your teeth won't be much good to me for much farther down." She retorted, looking ahead. It was getting so dark that even her eyes were starting to strain without help from something glowing. "This might be as far as you can go. I can already feel the pain of the pressure on my limbs. I imagine you're not feeling much better than I am."

He snorted, but stopped. "I'll admit that it's fairly uncomfortable." He looked around at the nothing they were in the middle of. He could hear the churning water from her tail and wondered what it would be like to feel so scared about living every second of your life. She, who had very little noticeable offense while he had so much of it. "Does it get worse than this?"

She jumped after his pause and forced herself to calm down. The last thing she needed to was to paralyze him right now!

She nodded and forgot he probably couldn't see her that well. "Much worse." She gravely reported. Her mind was full of the future pain she was to receive and her reluctance at returning to it. "It takes me a while to get adapted back to the intense pressure so my bones don't crack with every movement. That's why I'm so small. My bones are fairly thin to keep from being crushed by the deep waters."

He gave an amused hum. He knew this, somewhat, but it didn't really interest him that much. Small fish were appetizers and not worth his time.

His arms crossed as he stared in the direction of her voice. It was strange to be able to smell her and feel her move the water around him, but not see her that well. Was this what she meant by being able to feel and hear instead of seeing?

"Then I shall leave you to the rest of your journey princess." He finished. "Will you need a return escort soon?"

Her head slowly shook. "I never know when I need to report up above, so I'll come up by myself, but I will most likely want return help such as this again. At the very least, I'll need time to recover before attempting visits to anywhere again."

"It sounds like this causes you a great deal of pain. Maybe in the future, I can try making the journey once so you don't have to go through all of that."

She snorted and smiled. "You'd never last." She responded with confidence. Her chin rose a little. "The pressure would collapse your lungs and stomach, and you would possibly become much smaller than you are now."

He grinned as he slowly moved his tail in the direction of up. "So you think. I have done many stupid things before that I probably couldn't handle, but I bet I could handle your home. Well...see you later princess. Safe journey home."

She listened to his tail beat, watched him exit even as her ears were tuned to other noises in the water. It was a necessary break that she needed to stabilize herself, though the lessened pain would only intensify the farther down she went.

She waited until his movements had all but vanished and he was beyond her call. He was gone and now she truly was alone. She turned to the way down and swallowed. Hands gripped the thin weapon, hoping it also didn't get crushed along with her on the way down. It was bone, nothing more compact than that.

'Get going.' She mentally berated, tail slowly pushing off. 'Waiting here is only asking for trouble.'

Thankfully there was nothing, but yet there was nothing. She was in open water for a while longer until she reached the rocky connections rising up from the sea floor. That meant there was no place for her to take cover or get near should something be wandering around or floating about down here looking for food. Everything was sustenance and a means to keep living, herself included. Should she bump into the many fearsome, toothy creatures waiting for something foolish to swim its way, she may lose a body part. If the bone wasn't so sharp, she had no doubt that sticking it in something's mouth in a means of attack would only lose it and her enemy would claim it as a meal.

It was so hard to keep calm and focus on anything aside the mounting pain. Paranoia at returning to the depths was keeping her from breaking down and giving in to her own body, which was a distraction she badly needed, even it meant she was returning to danger. She wasn't fully able to feel out those surrounding her with the ability to sense pressure changes and it was a huge detriment. She needed that ability because those who didn't move could win and take a chunk out of her flesh, or attempt to eat all of her, if she wasn't careful.

Thankfully, what glowed in the darkness to find a mate, also glowed to attract witless pray to its jaws. She easily caught their luminescence in the dark and diverted her route to go around the enemy before she was eaten. She tried to float most of the way down to conserve the energy it was taking to get her here and get past everything. Nothing chased after her, even as slow as she was swimming. It wasn't because she was bigger than they were; the expended energy without the promise of food wasn't something most were willing to trade.

She was grateful for small things.

After what felt like forever, there was something that flashed and then disappeared, then flashed again and disappeared as quickly. She paused and watched it emerge from something, as if uncovering itself...or coming out of something in the sea floor.

A sense of relief like none other hit her and the first smile since she parted ways with Adrien appeared.

Rocks.

She had gone down far enough for her to find the rock structures coming up from the sea floor. She was almost home.

That didn't mean she had the ability to relax though. Things hid in the edges of the porous walls and could strike if she got too close or let her guard down. It was about as bad as open water. Her ability to sense pressure changes was still eluding her and she would hurt herself upon the rocks if she didn't watch where she was going. Any of the rocks could easily tear her fragile skin apart and bleed into the water, announcing she was injured prey that anyone could come after.

The only good thing about getting to the rocks with all of their hidden dangers was that the algae which grew on them glowed. They pointed out spots where she would have otherwise struck her head or been attacked. The algae were sparser than when she had gone up, which meant some of her clan must have come out and hunted for food, but it still did the job.

The closer she got to home, the more there were. Her clan made sure that, no matter how much they relied on those plants that grew on the rocks for food, they had the most abundant cave in the area. The surrounding walls also had the most patches of luminescent coral around to find the cave entrances and make sure predators didn't sneak in as well.

She swam down and around the chunks of thin coral that dared make their mark in the depths, intent on one major area. She passed the two tallest sections with ease; gateways in a sense to show others of entry...or warn that up ahead was inhabited and not to be trifled with. Her face broke into a real smile as she slowly neared. The pain almost slid off her and her grip finally relaxed on the weapon. Never had a dark cave been so inviting as the one she slowly approached.

Home.

The opening was much larger than the ones the tiger clan had in their reefs, but that was because her clan had carved it enough to make sure their fins didn't scrape along the rocks. She paused long enough to catch anything moving amongst the dull glow ahead before continuing on in silence. The second she got past the opening, she knew they would know she was back. There was no real need to announce herself, but she missed home and her family.

"Mama! Papa! I've returned!"

Her voice bounced off the walls and continued on for her. She heard it echo for a few heartbeats before stopping, though nothing immediately followed it.

There were swishes of tiny shrimp amongst the rocks attempting to take all the algae for themselves. She ignored the little creatures, knowing that nothing else could attack her now, and swam on a little faster.

The entrance opened up drastically to tall, jagged walls. Coral attempted to thrive upward as it grew in random patches on the floor of the cave. She could see small bottom feeders kicking up dirt amongst the rocks as they hurried to bury themselves at her approach. She smiled and paid them no mind either as she stopped at a place with many more openings. Entrances into different parts of the cave.

"Mama? Papa? Is anyone here?"

There was a quiet noise in one of the other sections of the cave before her mother abruptly appeared with a happy look. "Marinette! You've returned!"

Her arms swung wide to return her mother's embrace. Her mother was gentle in the touch, knowing full well that a harsh embrace would only damage her daughter right now. "It's good to see you mama. Where's papa?"

"He was just getting some food farther down in the caves." Sabine reported, swimming back the way she came. "Come and let's tell him you're back. He'll be so excited. I'm sure he'll want to hear all about your trip up."

She smiled and nodded. The pair wound farther into the ground, knowing the place by heart. Their home was one of tunnels and glowing algae with occasional pockets to create larger spaces to live in. Anyone else that dared attack them would quickly get lost and never find their way out before being attacked in return...and most likely eaten.

"Did I hear Marinette?"

"Papa!" She swam forward much quicker than any of her descent and hugged her father as tightly as she dared. "I missed you so much!" She pulled back with a smile and took in the glow to his eyes.

"How was the trip up to the upper waters?"

She sighed and rested her head against her father's chest. "Very long and tiring. And annoying...like usual. But Gabriel had some good things to say about the other clans he had come into contact while I was away visiting others down here. I also learned some useful information which he provided about that thing in the lower waters."

She gave only a brief summary of the report she was given. Being home relaxed her and with that came a wave of exhaustion she had been fighting the entire trip. She would be able to account much more if necessary, but right now, she wanted to give in to her body in the one place she knew which was safe.

It was easy to see her posture droop and the few times she stopped beating her tail, which led her to fall in the water a little. She quickly moved to remain at their level, but the journey was long and her emotions chaotic.

Sabine smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "Dear, why don't you go rest for a bit. You've got some time you need to use to get used to home again. Thank you so much for your hard work. We can update you later about things around here during your absence."

She reached up and placed her hand over her mothers, feeling cool, thin fingers. She nodded and smiled at her father, who nodded back. "I think I'd very much like that. I apologize for leaving so soon after I returned. I'll see you when as I can."

"Have a good rest Marinette."

"Thank you papa."

She looked down at the weapon she had borrowed, what rested in limp fingers. She held it against herself as she turned for a different tunnel. She wound into the depths of the rock formation before finally finding an empty space.

Her space.

An exhausted smile graced her face as she gently set the weapon on the rock floor below and went to the center. She inhaled a few deep breaths to keep afloat and closed her eyes, body drooping seconds later.

 _Dramatic ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=8H4hlfVcxpk_

 _Soft ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=0c0FBSUd1Hk_

 _Big-mouthed_ _eels,_ _aka_ _pelican_ _eels_ _(wtf_ _nature?!):_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=tInHUbz3B_Y_

 _Bioluminescent_ _coral:_ _cdn_ _phys_ _org/newman/gfx/news/hires/web_10977_334774_ _jpg_

 _Marinette's_ _Home:_ _gemini_ _no/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ntnu_blacksmokers_final-compressed_ _jpg_


	4. Readapting to the depths

The deep waters were the bottom part of the entire ocean. They were the most spacious and intense area out of all the bodies that made up what everything knew as 'water'. They were the darkest, the coldest, the harshest to live in. Oxygen was scarce, heat was hard to come by, and food even harder. If anything did survive this far down, there were drastic measures taken from nature and time in order to allow such beings to fight and pass along life to their offspring.

'Teeth' was the first thing that came to mind. Teeth, thin bones, and very fragile skin. Most things in such depths were practically inedible in their own right because their insides were gooey and their muscles were weak. Not like the creatures up above who had actual fat and thick bones to work around.

Down in the depths, nothing could be seen and nothing could see...even with some having adapted to the sheer lack of light. Many had huge, bulbous eyes to pick up the tiniest glows; others had eyes directed upward or in different directions. Creatures looked radically different from one another and had their own offenses and defenses...although most of it was offense. The primary defense that everything had was darkness.

Since food was so scarce, movement was a liability. Swimming after something when you weren't guaranteed of getting to eat it was a huge issue. The ability to float and wait for food was probably the best defensive measure many were granted. Thus all one could do was float in the open water...a waiting predator to some, but prey to others. While creatures up above could sink and raise due to certain organs allowing such movement, the pressure down below was too much to let any such thing occur.

The pressure... It was enough to push a living being into itself, collapse bone and muscle without mercy. It was ever-encompassing and never-ending. To escape such pain, many lost the organ allowing them to float since it would have been crushed anyway. The barest of pockets in the body were all that were available to hold fast in the water; the rest was up to basic movement and energy.

It was the lack of these pockets and their minimal use which kept many of these creatures at the bottom. What allowed them to survive was also what kept them there. Most that tried to go past the lower waters, where the pressure let off incredibly, would balloon up and die. In most cases, some creatures would be able to last in the middle waters for a short time, even in the upper waters, but then die soon after due to such drastic changes. IF one was lucky enough to survive long enough to escape to the depths, retribution at leaving only awaited one's return.

Pain. It was intense and long-lasting. It seeped into every breath, every heartbeat, every vein. It made any movement agony and the wish to eat non-existent for a long time. One's own body would use up its resources in order to stabilize the organs, keep the gases in the body moving, and help the mind from turning insane. Rest in a safe place was the only thing that helped...and time. If one could hide in a place without worry of being eaten whilst getting back to normal, that was.

Such a place was her home.

Thankfully, her clan was large enough to pose a threat to those in the area. They were some of the smarter beings that had bonded together long ago, who kept their mates close for survival and the continuation of their species. They were maybe a few dozen at best, but they were close-knit. They watched out for one another and in times like these, when she was incapacitated, they kept an eye on the cave entrance so that nothing could sneak in looking for food and find her.

Never was such peace of mind a more needed thing than when she could do nothing but barely think. When all she could do was keep afloat in order to not sink to the rocks around her and heal. When the thought of sleep and rest was a luxury because she wouldn't be sitting in the open for anything to come snatch a limb away. Worrying about becoming food wasn't on her mind right now; only the pain.

How long did she remain limp as she waited for things in her body to sort themselves out and return to normal? Heartbeats determined time in a place of pitch black and each one of them was agony. Her veins pulsed slowly and painfully until the movement of her own blood was no longer a hindrance to her. Only when her organs expanded a little more with each shallow breath and she was able to twitch her fingers, finally move her arms, did she know that she was getting better.

It was exhausting to think, but thinking was the only thing she could do in perfect stillness. Often times, her mind was overridden with annoyance at having to feel this because she was best suited to many areas. The deep waters were her home, the lower waters her neighbors. Going there was easy, even if it was dangerous. It was the middle and upper waters which she could handle for a time, though this was always the result. Such was the issue of being suited to the worst and being able to handle the easiest.

It wasn't hard to consider her irritation with clans in the middle and upper waters. They would die if they ever came down here, whether from the pressure or being eaten in the darkness. Chloe may have been a weakling against such severity, but she was right about it. The darkness was 'cold and scary' and while she 'absolutely refused to go to such a horrid place', it was as she described...but more. Chloe lived in a land of light; she would never understand the deep waters.

While such words were certainly true, constantly saying them to her face didn't lessen the feel of her home being tarnished by someone who would, could, never be there.

She knew that those who lived in the middle and upper waters feared her because of how she looked, even with as ornate as she was. Most of it really was for defensive measures; the wide fin at the end of her tail and those at her sides were only to make her seem bigger than she actually was. They were practically see-through and the fins at her sides all but useless.

Except when it came to her tail.

Never had she so wanted to use the paralytic toxins resting under the folds of her scales more than whenever she received the looks she always got. It was a horrible urge, one of perverse happiness to make them all unconscious, even if it was only for a little while. They would get up and move...and perhaps treat her with a little more respect when she gloated over their ineptitude because of her abilities. At how she could easily eat any of them while they were helpless and chose not to.

Nothing came in to bother her during such an extensive recovery time, though she could hear quiet voices bouncing around the tunnel walls to her ears. The distraction broke her of her hatred and she was glad. While she didn't like to be called a mere bottom-feeder, despite being of the Tench clan, she couldn't act on such feelings when in the presence of the other clans. Everyone down here had to know what was going on above because other clans were partial to certain things many others were not. They needed such an extensive communication network in order to survive and she couldn't let her emotions damage it in the slightest.

In the end, she was forced to swallow her words and poorly hide her temper for the sake of others.

Garbled words soon came in waves and she would catch snippets of conversation by the others. Some of them concerned her, some food, some on the immediate area and going out in it. It gave her something else to concentrate on when waves of pain would hit anytime she experimented with more movement...only to find herself unable to leave her space just yet.

It was only when words of 'visitor' and 'clan' came to her that she realized something new was happening. Someone from one of the other areas had shown up and she needed to be there. Those ruling an area included the parents and the offspring, should the children not currently be away somewhere else. If she was home, it was pretty much required that she be there to greet the visitor and listen to the report.

She WANTED to be there because she needed to hear the words first-hand to memorize and give to others. Her parents had good memories and could give her the necessary information to pass along, having done the same thing that she was now doing, but it was a personal matter. This was her job and although she wasn't fully healed, she needed to push past it and focus right now.

Movement was slow and achy, but not impossible. She gradual twisted a few times in the slightly confining space to get used to her tail again before heading out of the opening and through the tunnels. It had been a long time since she moved, but her stomach was still protesting the extensive lack of food. The last time she had eaten was up in the middle waters and she had only taken a little because of what awaited her. She had more than used up that energy and was working on her own reserves.

Food awaited her amongst the rocks, even if her stomach felt less than adequate to receive it. If she was going to be present, and hopefully attentive, she needed something to fuel her mind for what was to come. Since going out into open waters was still too dangerous, she settled for the algae that grew along the rocks. It was easy to find in its dull glow and she took a few careful handfuls, trying not to scrape her skin as she pulled it from its roots.

As she ate, voices came much more frequently and she knew they were about ready to give a report. She grabbed one final chunk and stuffed it in her mouth as she twisted, heading down the tunnels for the group.

Her parents were there, of course, along with one of her other siblings, plus Nathaniel. She slowed as she poked her head past the entrance to a large area full of glowing algae. None of the other clan members were present, mostly intentionally so, but probably out to gather food somewhere. Not like the tunnels didn't take their voices and bounce then around, allowing the others to hear some of the conversation anyway.

For the most part, ruling families talked to ruling families and allowed the rest of the clan the simplicity of living life without having to care for everyone else too. It was the main family's responsibility to watch over everyone in the clan and keep them all safe. Should something happen, the family had to be the first one to respond. Such were the rules in place long ago that kept things simple for some and gave direction to others so fear didn't override everyone and get them all killed.

"Oh, Marinette...I didn't think you'd be well enough to join us."

She pasted on a smile as everyone looked her way while she slowly propelled herself through the space to them. "I heard that we had a visitor." She side-stepped, stopping next to him. She gave him a courteous nod and he responded with one. "I didn't want to be rude if there was a report to give."

"I could have told it to you later."

She smiled across the way of her sibling, hearing slight annoyance in the tone. "I'm sure you would have. It's just something I like to be in on is all."

"Well, now that all are here that are able to attend, shall we get started?" Tom broke in. The group lightly beat their tails to keep afloat and looked to members of their respective Tench clan. "Nathaniel, please begin."

Nathaniel bowed his head and looked to them all with large, black eyes. "Marinette, I'm glad that your trip to the surface hasn't done you any permanent damage. When I'm finished with my report, please enlighten me on your time above and what you learned from the other clans."

She nodded, mentally shuffling that request away to find the necessary information when he was done.

"As you know, our land is near the vents. We rely on their warmth for survival in the colder areas up north near the trench, along with the creatures that live near them. Lately, we've been unable to get near them like usual when we hunt for food. The heat from the vents has been increasing and has driven many of the creatures away. We noticed that some of the shrimp and other clawed beings that live around the very edges of the vents have been farther away than usual. It hasn't reached our caves yet, but it has killed off some of the coral that grow on the vents, which is concerning as you know."

Nathaniel's tail swished erratically for a second, showing his unease. "We've also seen lights shining in the depths recently too. We think it's the humans again, like it was before." He looked to Marinette and she nodded, remembering the incident well.

How could one forget almost being caught by the humans and pulled upward, as they saw many other creatures have happen to them...

"The...creature was all one color and the lights it had were like the sun. The same thing that seems to appear whenever any of the other clans happened upon the humans. It always seems to be some round, oddly-shaped...thing that has bubbles clamoring to the surface at odd times. None of us got near it and made sure we were watching safely in the distance. We don't think their lights were bright enough to reach us where we hid."

"It's good you stayed away." Sabine broke in, relieved smile on her face.

Tom nodded in agreement. "Nothing good will ever come from being too curious. Marinette has told us stories from her reports of clans in the upper waters who had bad run-ins with humans."

Nathaniel looked his way. "But what could they want down here? Did they know of the temperature changes with the vents and come to see? They could get much closer than we did despite the heat. We couldn't figure out how they did it, but maybe the creature has really thick skin." His head shook helplessly, unable to figure it out. "They stayed for a bit, took some things from the floor, and then just left. We were happy, but it still doesn't explain their presence in the first place."

Gabriel's words returned to her. "Gabriel recently told me: 'if nothing happened that you know of, they may have just been curious about that area' and 'we've seen them occasionally go down into the depths and some of the clan has followed in curiosity, but never gotten close enough to be noticed'." She recanted. She rested a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder, reassuring smile on her face. "The humans have never intentionally come down to take any of us. Gabriel may have been right in that they might just want to know what's down here. Since they live in a world entirely opposite to ours, they might be like the tiger clan: too interested in everything for their own good."

Nathaniel smiled and nodded. "It's good to hear those words. I'll pass them along to my clan. I know they'll be happy to know that the humans don't care for us personally and aren't coming to take all the food."

His mood quickly changed, his black orbs looking to the rocks below. "The vents are still a problem though. If such heat continues, or gets worse, we may have much more trouble finding food. It is one of our hunting spots and we can't afford it to affect us. As it is, snow is much of what we eat, much like yourselves, but we still rely on those that use the vents for food. If the worms die off, we know we're in trouble."

"The gases from the vents aren't too horrible for you, are they?"

Nathaniel shook his head. "We've adjusted to being near them. It's just a little difficult to be so close for so long right now." A hand went to his chin as his tail swished in agitation again. "I've already told my clan a few things to keep them from worrying about the lack of food, which, as you know, is always an issue down here."

Everyone was silent, minds working to try and figure out the sudden difficulty which seemed so out of the ordinary. Marinette finally shook her head with a sigh, unable to grasp anything logical. "It sounds like you're already doing everything you can and have done for your clan for now." She finalized, tone slightly sad. "I feel like we won't add much to it right now, other than please keep an eye on the temperature and pressure of the vents. Something notable seems to be happening because of this and we want to be prepared should it occur." She gave a smile. "Just don't tell your clan that last part."

Nathaniel matched her smile. "I wouldn't dream of it. They can be a scared bunch of fish at times. Perhaps telling them to keep their eyes wider than usual will help keep them occupied until we learn what's going on. They have a tendency to come and go, so they can provide the clan with good information which we can give to others."

She nodded. "The clans above will want to know if it ends up affecting them as well." She squelched a sigh, knowing that such big news would eventually force her above to report this. She just got back and still wasn't better, yet she had to return?

'Ugh...maybe I can draw it out a little more until I feel somewhat better...'

When Nathaniel finished the report from his clan and the deeper waters that he had visited farther north, she went into what she found out from the middle and upper clans. She reported on what Alya and Nino gave, what Gabriel said, and what Chloe reported around her own areas with accuracy. Nathaniel listened and nodded at parts, asking questions where necessary. When she was done, he thanked her for her job in traveling up and doing the major work for the lower and deep water clans, which she mentally held close.

It was nice to know that someone appreciated such grueling efforts!

Only would those living amongst the pressure be able to say 'thank you' and truly mean it. Those that had organs allowing them to float could die if they went to the depths and those at the very bottom would be eaten up above if they didn't possess her level of intelligence and paranoia. She knew what lurked above and sometimes those creatures were much harder to evade than down here. Especially when her abilities left her.

When all was said and done, her family swam out to the large opening of the cave with Nathaniel and bid him goodbye before he exited the main entrance. Speech was quiet in order to keep from alerting everything out there that something was nearby.

Once Nathaniel's tail was silent and unable to be heard, they all turned to each other with matching apprehension.

"I'm going to have to go look into this sometime soon, aren't I?" She queried first, not looking entirely happy since she was still mending.

Sabine laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid so my dear. I just hope that the heat isn't something too much for you to handle."

She gave a humorless smile. "At least it'd be a nice change from the constant cold."

"I could always go for you."

She looked to her younger sibling with a smile. "I appreciate the effort, but I know that you'll need to head off for your own reports soon." She received a glum nod, guessing correctly.

"I'm a little worried about what those temperatures will do to the surrounding area if they get much hotter."

"Do you think they'll come this far south?"

Tom looked to Sabine. "Well, the distance isn't that horrible between the trenches so it's possible. We'll need to find a way to discuss this with the rest of the clan and somehow find ways for them to be vigilant whenever they head out into open waters for food. Their extra eyes will help in the meantime until Marinette is well enough to travel."

She smiled, trying not to sigh too much. "I've already adjusted to some of the pressure, papa. I imagine that it won't be too much more time before I'm well enough to head north and successfully dodge danger until I can reach the other trench."

As much as she really wasn't looking forward to setting out from home after just reaching it, she had to mentally prepare herself for doing so yet again. Such were the responsibilities of the children after all...

 _Soft_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=0c0FBSUd1Hk_

 _(Marine)_ _Biology_ _time!:_ _En_ _wikipedia_ _org/wiki/Deep_sea_fish_

 _Hydrothermal_ _vents:_ _en_ _wikipedia_ _org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent_

 _Marinette's species in story...very loosely used: en wikipedia org/wiki/Tench_


	5. The bougainville trench of darkness

Algae in the caves could only be consumed for so long for so many reasons. As the primary light source amidst the rocks, the clan had to be careful not to eat too much too fast before it had a chance to reproduce. With the living conditions, that was slow going. Even if it was safer than going into open waters, the ramifications of greediness would only be felt further down the line.

Aside such a major reason, the taste and feel of algae wasn't all that welcome every time. She wasn't such a fan of it for every meal, and not just because eating it so often made her tail slightly luminescent. One of the good things of traveling above was the feel of actual meat in her teeth. Eating fish up above was totally unlike those down here and the experience was one she gluttonously loved. She didn't want to think that too much though because the moment she preferred animal fat and muscle to what lived down here was the day she started to dislike her own home.

It wasn't like her clan was forced to live upon the algae all the time though. Many went out to get snow and the occasional hunt. Most often, both would happen at the same time due to the hard find. The algae was a safer option, but they could all too easily deplete the easy source of food and be forced to head out...risking their lives more often than necessary.

When she had no problem moving about the caves based on pressure senses alone, she knew she was okay to tackle open waters. The pain was gone, the blood pushed easier in her veins, and the ability to 'feel' through the thick water had returned. Even if it was easier to hide in the caves because she knew quite well the types of fish that waited for her to venture out, she needed actual flesh to eat.

She informed her parents where she would be and, just in case, snatched her borrowed weapon. It had been such a comfort on the way down and she knew she was getting too attached to something that wasn't technically hers. It was merely on loan it until the next time she went up. She didn't know what she was going to do on the next return trip, but that was a long time from now and not worth worrying about.

Bone in one hand, ears attuned and body 'reaching out', she stopped at the main entrance and felt the immediate space. Nothing moved, of course, but there didn't seem to be anything nearby. Whatever she could see with help from the coral told her the exit was uninhabited by burrowers.

She mentally sighed in relief and swam out as stealthily as possible. She stopped just outside and peered through the black, not seeing shadows or shapes and no other hovering luminescence. She inched away with light pushes from her tail. The area felt deserted so she kept moving out, intent on not relaxing until she was back in the caves. Only when she was around family did she know she wouldn't fear attack.

Her other hand went around the bone, grip on it tightening a little. Ah, home. The constant fear of being eaten, eviscerated, or getting one's blood into open water for a future feeding frenzy. She had to admit that the light in the water helped her a great deal to find danger long before it did her, but that was because of her defensive capabilities from living down here.

She got quite a distance away from home since nothing small was around to hunt. Nothing big was out, but small creatures were even more scared than her and thus finding them would be a challenge. Perhaps she should venture out and up and find some snow for now while she searched...

That thought took her much farther than she preferred to go and landed her near the trench. She didn't like being near the trench. The pressure was even worse near it than any other part of the ocean floor. While it was almost uninhabited, just wondering what could still live down there almost sent her into a panic.

The ever-present question of 'what' often drove her to think about what may live there. She could never muster up the sheer amount of courage to go to the very bottom of the ocean and explore. She had no desire to know just what was in that area of her home, or whether or not there was something which could get her clan. She was very opposite the tiger clan in that regard, who foolishly risked their lives because of their idiotic curiosity. Even with where she was, she could see nothing except gaping blackness and used her other senses to feel if danger was nearby.

 _What_ _can't_ _see,_ _can_ _feel_ _and_ _hear..._

She shivered against the inner voice echoing her own words at her and quickly turned away. She hurried from the area as if avoiding something dangerous nearby and went up. She clutched the weapon in a vice grip and held it to her, eyes darting all over to find anything in her path.

Finding snow was really difficult because one pretty much stumbled upon it in order to find it. Since it created no sound, no movements, no pulse, it was almost untraceable. It always freaked her out whenever she'd be swimming and a chunk large enough to be called food would hit her on the face. Every time, she thought she ran into an enemy and her hands went up to defend herself, tail almost ready to go off.

She grabbed such a piece and stuffed it into her mouth, feeling around for another. This size was sufficient to chew and took a little time to eat. She was happy to have found such a piece and was hoping for another.

She dared think herself lucky to be able to swing her free arm out blindly in her search. She had used up so much luck getting this far out that perhaps she had forgotten just how quickly things turned and how hungry everything was down here.

Especially when that hand came upon something more solid than snow amongst the water.

She quickly jerked back and thrashed her tail to place some distance. There was no noise, as there usually wasn't, and that was the biggest detriment. Her breathing and heartbeat escalated in that split second and she grasped the weapon in her hands, holding it out before her.

Had she moved a second later, the teeth that instantly clamped down upon it could have been around her face. Fear pierced her as she suddenly saw a small trail of light coming from the lower jaw of the enemy, outlining it with its black eyes and long, sharp teeth enough to show her just what she was up again.

Oh no...not a dragonfish!

Panic intensified and her breathing grew choppy as the fish thrashed in the water, trying to take the weapon from her hands. It probably thought whatever it was biting was her arm and was trying to take it off!

Her teeth grit as she attempted to keep hold of the only thing that could keep her alive. Well, she did have her toxins, but those were a one-time use for escaping and she wasn't right outside her cave! She still had to get there and build them back up so if she let them go now, she would be out the biggest defense she had for anything else which was still out there. Sure, they would do the job and quickly paralyze what was trying to eat her, but haphazardly swimming away in the main direction of home would only make her run into something else with teeth.

She jerked back and forth as the predator moved in the water, not wanting to stop its tirade and let her go just yet. Food was almost in its reach and it wasn't going to give up on such a conquest...even though she knew it must feel the weight it was pulling and how big she must be. Those with teeth as big as a dragonfish had didn't fear things larger than them. Their jaws extended to eat creatures much larger to live off the food for as long as possible.

Much like most things down here.

By the size of it, she had encountered a female; the worst of the species. They were much larger then their male counterparts by far and didn't have a problem hunting for food because they digested it no problem...

Unable to take her hands off the weapon lest she lose it and be killed, she quickly moved forward and, in a last ditch effort to get away, sunk her teeth into the top of the fish's head.

It was more than a risky move. She had to move much closer to its body, exposing her neck and torso to attack, should it want to change its stance. The fish itself was at least the length of her arm and was no small thing to trifle with. She had unluckily come upon a fairly larger than normal dragonfish and one wrong move would be her last. It could easily take off her head and then save the rest of her limbs for later.

Her teeth sank through slimy, cold flesh and felt blood oozing around the corners of her mouth. The fish jerked back, this time more intent on getting away than attack, but she held fast. She had to teach it a lesson and force it to think only about fleeing for its safety so she could do the same! As it was, she was mere seconds and one small thread of terror away from releasing her toxins and keeping it from doing so anyway.

She bypassed the blood and possibly its brain against her tongue as protective instincts rose to keep her head clear. Only when its jaw loosened amongst the pain and her arms moved back against herself, did she think about relaxing her hold. Before she could pull away, it jerked strongly backwards and she was unprepared for it.

Or when the weapon fumbled out of her hands into the blackness below.

She quickly released her hold and looked down, not worried as the movement of her enemy was in the opposite direction. Despite herself shaking from fear, she tried to collect her wits and figure out what she should do. She swallowed the flesh and blood in her mouth as she tried to choose one option over the other.

Head down and retrieve the tiger clan weapon...or head home to safety and leave it amongst the bottom of the rocks forever.

She didn't want to go down there. She was so close to the trench that she feared it had floated down. There were no other rocks in the area for her to hope it had gotten lodged in something along the way. Hands covered her face as she bit back a scream. Pride and honor kept her rooted to her spot, unable to simply swim away and head home without a care in the world.

Golden hair and kind eyes sprang to mind while she was trapped and unable to decide. He had given her a weapon which his clan didn't really need. This meant it must have some kind of meaning. The handle had been carved with designs. It wasn't simply a bone that someone had kept around to gnaw on later. It must have belonged to someone and he had loaned it to her knowing that.

And she just lost it to the trench.

Could she face Adrien whenever she next saw him and tell him that she had stupidly lost the weapon he so graciously gave her to use on her journey home? Could she allow herself to see any negative look on his face if such a thing had indeed meant something to him or someone in his clan? Would she ever be able to forgive herself for swimming home when she was right in the area of it and could probably find it with a little time? Since the trench was almost void of life, she would just have to handle the extreme pressure and hunt for it.

Easier said than done!

Hands whipped away from her face to her sides as she looked in the direction of down. He may forgive her if he knew in full what had happened, but she never would. If she left now, she would only come back later in search of it and blunder even more at not knowing the exact area it was in. Now was the easiest time, even if she was alone.

She harshly swallowed, stomach clenching into knots and trepidation lacing her veins as she slowly twitched her tail and adjusted her position.

It wasn't much farther to the floor and the wall down. Her body pulsed and felt with even more accuracy anything in front of her as she inched forward. She was thankful that the path was clear, even if the way there pressed the blood in her veins harsher than she ever felt upon returning to the depths.

If any coral was on the floor, it was well behind her and not helping to see into the trench. She could see in the near distance one small light that told her an anglerfish must be in the area. She harshly swallowed and remembered to avoid that spot, since they tended to drift a little to keep their lure moving.

The rest of the way down was blackness and she took a quiet, deep breath for courage. She could do this...she had to!

It wasn't as if she wanted to use her hands as feelers since they could very well hit something and start another battle, maybe even get them bitten off in the process, but she didn't have too many other options. There wasn't a long enough piece of coral to use to feel with and even if she did use that, she would give away her location to other fishes with the glow it gave off before it died.

She wasn't even a shark's length in before the pressure made her cringe. Movement was labored and slower than it originally was as her tail felt like it was being squeezed in upon itself. Her stomach was starting to cramp up and breathing felt like numerous rocks were pressing on her. It was so much like the original journey down, except she was already home and adjusted to the depths.

Everything except down here anyway.

She stayed close enough to the wall to have something to go off of, but far enough away to avoid immediate, surprise attack. She honestly couldn't believe that anything could be living down in this, but entire clans made up the deep waters and she shouldn't let her guard down. That's what got her into this mess in the first place.

Finding the weapon was almost like finding snow...through pure luck that she didn't even know she had that much of. The bone itself was fairly large, definitely the size of her forearm and hand combined. It must have come from another shark, perhaps a great white given the size and angle of the bone. The odds that it had lodged itself at an angle for easier grabbing, as opposed to flush against the rocks, wasn't something she was betting on.

How fortunate for her that such a thing happened.

She barely saw it and didn't even know how she did. It was a non-living creature which didn't breathe, move, or give off any sensation of pressure changes. The only way she found it was by 'feeling' a jut to the steep wall nearby as she skimmed the water.

A smile graced her face as she righted herself for travel back up. She stopped for only a second to test the area for safety before her fingers slowly extended. They paused as she tried to sense through the tips of her nails the area the weapon was embedded in before going farther. One wrong move may just get her hand bitten off.

Slowly...

Just a little more...!

She grasped the hard surface, the familiarity of the bone coming to her brain and her fingers closed around it.

The rocks suddenly shifted on their own and something erupted out extremely near the weapon.

She screamed and the toxins in her tail exploded in a cloud around her. She thrashed back, tail quickly messing the cloud in all directions as she brandished the weapon in front of her, pointy end extended out.

Her body was abruptly thrown back as a fairly heavy weight lodged itself there and was still.

She kept moving her fins to get the paralytic toxins in as many parts as possible to keep whatever it was at bay. Mere seconds after something came into contact with her toxins, the muscles began to shut down and the creature became a floating mass of nothing in the water. Whatever had just tried to attack her must have flopped over onto the weapon and killed itself. Not that she was complaining!

She rapidly breathed and tried to slow it so she could think. Something had hidden away in the rocks and whatever it was felt heavier than the dragonfish she had just tangled with! She had a feeling its entire body was now speared through the bone and she was safer than just paralyzing it.

Not taking any chances, her free hand shot out and blindly grasped the body, fingers retracting quickly as she found a huge mouth and open set of big teeth. She had a feeling she just tangled with a dagger eel and won. Her hand quickly closed its mouth and clenched around its jaws as her free hand removed the weapon and stabbed it again.

Again.

Again!

She quickly smelled blood in the water and knew it had to be dead by now. As nice of a thought as that was, she now had to escape because she was more vulnerable than she had been seconds ago. Everything and anything was going to come straight to the smell, pressure or no pressure!

She took one more second of split indecision before finally deciding to take her catch home, dead and all as it was now, and slowly headed up. The battle was done, her weapon was back. It was time to flee for the safety of the cave and perhaps share her kill.

The biggest issue to face on the way home, aside the fact that she was going to bring a trail of blood all the way there, was that her tail was useless. She had just used up her best and most important defense amongst everything that her parents had gifted her with. Sight, smell, pressure senses, color camouflage against the light, and paralytic toxins in her tail for escape. She wouldn't be able to rebuild the liquids in the small sacs until she had time to do so, which was tucked away in the depths of the cave where she had the luxury. There was no way she was going to manage to do so now.

They excreted in a quick burst, much like an octopus did ink as a means of escape, but she doubted that an octopus had such difficulty making more as she did. Being in the trench made it even worse and the hyper feel of danger wasn't going to help her regain peace of mind either. She had to calm down and focus in order to get back to normal.

Getting past the trench wall felt amazing and a layer of unease left, another one replacing it. She swam with a little more speed than last time, hoping that whatever was in front of her wouldn't also be coming her way.

Once the excess pressure was off, she pushed herself to the limit and tried to 'feel' as far away as possible. The way had been clear on her way out, HAD been, but she just knew it would be different. The dragonfish would call other predators to the area unless it fled in the entire opposite direction they had been in. Now she was even worse off, but was even more grateful to have a weapon.

Oh such a dichotomy; had she never received it in the first place, she would never have had lost it in the trench...but perhaps when she was originally fighting for her life, she would possibly be dead by now. She gripped the bone and held the point outward, ready to slash anything else that dared get too close. She could feel herself become stronger, fiercer, after having killed a dagger eel with the tiger clan's weapon at her disposal.

Her skin dug in to the crafted ridges of the handle as she thought to the tiger clan...to Adrien's clan. She remembered his haughty, thoughtless words that seemed to mock her for needing extra offense. She saw in her mind's how strong his tail was and how confidently he swam through the waters. He was afraid of nothing because of his abilities and, just for a second, she stole some of that confidence, that brashness, in order to get home. She would return it only when she was tucked away with her meal and her family.

And she would be sure to thank him next time she saw him.

 _Dramatic / scary ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=_u0vyU1eAzA_

 _Dragonfish_ _(try_ _sleeping_ _now!): planetsave com/2013/09/21/black-dragonfish-deep-sea-fish-facts-pictures-videos/_

 _Dagger_ _eel_ _/_ _Daggertooth "fish" (wtf_ _mother_ _nature!): imr no/images/kopi3_av_bildearkiv/2008/03/Daggertooth-372 gif/en_


	6. Forced to head up again

How much time passed since her last visit, she didn't know, but she knew that it felt like it was time to return above. After that last brush with death and a look to the vents in the northern trench, she compiled the necessary information from Nathaniel's clan and grabbed the weapon. It was time to return it and her gratitude.

She kept it close, feeling a little sorrow that she had to part with it. It had become a very useful tool and had served her well during her time away from the upper waters. She held it close, almost affectionately so, as she looked up and around for predators hovering for food.

The journey was quiet, long, and agonizing. As always, she had to wonder about those hiding nearby in order to get past. Many fish had adapted with eyes pointing up and should anything wish to chase her, they could find her easily. It was even worse when coming back home.

Living in the pitch black of the deep waters helped her realize that day and night were one. Such a concept as 'day' didn't come to her whenever she went about setting out. Thus, whenever she headed out on her journey, she never paid much attention to when because it made no difference...unlike when she went to head home.

It was only when she had almost cleared the lower waters and it was still dark did she realize she had left before night had arrived or had just arrived.

Not that she minded much if she traveled in the dark. She did all the time and even in the bottom part of the middle waters, there was still enough to see with, even if she was in open water. The moon didn't shine as much as the sun did, but she was used to absolutely nothing so anything was certainly better than the nothing of her home. Just knowing that she wouldn't give herself away to anything out of her eyesight because she would be too dark to see was a comfort. Anytime she swam up during the sunlight and it made her shine, she was always extra paranoid that someone could see.

Getting to the tiger clan home felt strange. The last time she had shown up was with the sun and it looked very different with the moon. She didn't even remember the last time she had shown up when it was nighttime. The shadows crawled a little more and many of the tiger clan were gone. Out hunting perhaps? Asleep maybe?

She suddenly hoped that Gabriel wasn't doing either. She knew that many fish species did sleep and many did not. If she remembered rightly, the tiger clan had some kind of ability to sleep. They could inflate some of the organs that helped them rise and lower into the middle waters and stay buoyant while their tail occasionally spasmed to bring oxygen into their gills.

Ugh...what if he was out hunting? She didn't know how long he took to find food and didn't want to wait around that long! She was aware that the tiger clan's swim range was far reaching, though it was somewhat shallow. They rarely went far into the middle waters, but they could roam for miles in any direction. She kept her fingers crossed as she got closer to the reef they called home.

When she within range, she could see others hanging around one of the openings in the reef walls. The pair twisted when they spotted her and the light she produced. Being much nearer to the moon allowed the red of her tail to bounce around the water, even muted as it was. They quickly swam her way, though she knew better than to act afraid. They had to know it was her; they were probably just stunned at some slightly glowing creature leisurely coming their way.

"I'm here to see Gabriel and give my report." She announced when they neared her.

The pair of 'guards' looked to each other and shook their heads. "Gabriel is out hunting right now." One informed.

She squelched a sigh. "How long has he been gone?" She asked, looking around the rock walls.

"He's been gone since the moon showed up so you'll just have to wait till he gets back."

"How long has the moon been out?"

"It's maybe halfway across the sky right now. It has another half to go before the sun shows up."

She sighed and looked to the reef walls. She had no other choice but to remain. She could see if Adrien was here and give her report to him, being another child of a ruler and all that, but it was a personal decision not to.

It wasn't because she didn't like him, but she was here to give her information to the ones in charge of the area, as did every other child of a ruling family. Rarely did others give their report to her without her parents present. The parents were really only absent if they were out finding food at the time and went any extended distance from home, such as Gabriel was doing. The tiger clan's reach was wide and Gabriel could be anywhere. It was bound to be a long wait.

Sending others out to find him would take time, especially since it seemed emptier than normal in the immediate area. It wouldn't be much of a search with a very small amount of shark-kin. The odds of Gabriel returning before anyone found him was good if he'd already been gone for so long. He would either have found what he wanted or gave up and return by then.

She was pretty much stuck here.

It wasn't like she could announce her intent on coming before she left the deep waters. She always ended up arriving quite suddenly and interrupted whatever he was doing at the time, should he even be around.

Since this was her primary job, she had all the time in the world right now. It didn't really hurt her to wait amongst the reef for his return, it was just going back home that would be hard. That was a painful adaptation that she wasn't looking forward to.

"I'll wait for his return." She murmured, feeling irritated resolution. She wasn't about to go home over such a distance and come back later. That was beyond foolish and the amount of time it took to get here alone was extensive. She wouldn't waste two more trips and possible death for nothing.

"Follow us and we'll show you to a place you can rest for now."

She nodded, feeling like it would be a nice change of pace. If nothing else, she could relax for a while...

The trio swam a ways into the walls and stopped in front of the slightly narrow cave openings. "Any of these should be fine." One reported, a hand pointing to them. "Most of them are just tunnels and large spaces, so you don't have to worry about someone else swimming through suddenly. They should be big enough to let you through without touching you and there are pockets of space which we carved out long ago to rest in without injury."

She nodded her thanks. "Please tell Gabriel I am here whenever he is seen."

Without another word, she swam to the opening and leisurely headed in. It was very much a sense of home to head into the caves, even if the design was narrower than her own and darker without the glowing algae. It was meant for shark skin, not wide Tench fins. She was more careful at seeing the reef quite sharp and cringed when her arm painfully bumped up against a wall. She slowed her entrance and gently felt out with her hands when necessary.

Stopping in front of a 'pocket' as they so described, found the place occupied. She paused and made to leave before she woke the inhabitant, but paused when her eyes adjusted and she saw who it was.

The shock of blond hair always made it easy to see him.

He was slouched over as if dead, arms floating uselessly in the water. He seemed fairly well suspended until he fell and his tail gave the lightest of thrashes and kept him from scrapping his tough skin on the reef. She could kind of see from the angle he was at the gills on his back move as he breathed.

She had never seen any shark-kin sleep before. Even though her family did something like this, it still wasn't the same. She would have sworn he was awake with his tail unconsciously moving, except nothing else twitched and his eyes were closed. What she heard of his breathing was slow. It was so strange and she took it in unabashed, eventually forgetting that she was staring.

She only stayed for a few breaths before finally shaking herself and telling herself that she needed to do the same...and to stop being rude and staring. She didn't need to talk to him about anything and if he was asleep, he must need his rest. She turned as slowly as she could so she didn't disturb the water and went to pull against the reef walls to propel her so she didn't push water in his face and wake him.

Except, his senses must have been as sharp in his slumber as they were when he was awake. His eyes popped open with a twitch and his arms extended her way...even as his tail shot him forward in a second to grasp at her.

She gasped and cringed as her back hit the reef. She could feel the skin break a little and the pain hit her delicate body. She tried to inhale with his hands around her throat, face intense and aggressive in his intent to attack.

Hands grasped his arms and scratched him with her nails in attempt to get him to let go. "S...st...op..." She managed, head pushing back into the reef. He was going to crush her neck! The pain hit her head, but she ignored it for the lack of oxygen he was keeping out of the gills in the sides of her neck. Panic speared her and her defenses snapped to attention. If this kept up, she was going to end up paralyzing him!

Her voice snapped him to. He rapidly blinked, eyes widening, and grip slacking. "Marinette?!"

The second he released her, she sank to the bottom of the reef cave and gingerly grasped her neck. She coughed and gasped for air simultaneously, unable to figure out which she needed to do first. She laid over the rock floor and didn't care if it bit into her tail; she was suddenly exhausted from a fight she never thought would happen. The feel of the open folds in her tail subsided a little and she focused on making sure nothing seeped out and made things worse.

He neared her, hands extended to touch, but fearing what he had already done. Worried eyes took in her dark appearance, her tail glowing a dull red due to its natural luminescence. "I'm sorry! I thought...I was asleep...you startled me! I mean...I'm sorry..."

She didn't look up until her breathing was back to normal. She felt the water grow choppy in his agitation as his tail swished around her. He was kicking up dust and making it hard to see and it was annoying her eyes. "We should get out of here. You're making it hard to breathe."

He looked around and a speck lodged itself in his eyes. A hand rubbed at it as he took in her subdued exit from his 'room'. He perked up and followed, not stopping till they were out amongst the walls.

Her head ached and she bet it was going to keep up for a bit. She tried to touch the middle of her shoulders where the wall felt like it had ripped skin apart, but she didn't smell blood. The other tiger clan inhabitants didn't look out of the ordinary, so she must have been lucky enough to keep that issue down.

The last thing she needed was to antagonize their inane sense of appetite...

"I'm so sorry! Are you hurt somewhere? I don't smell blood from you, so I don't think I got you that bad." His eyes looked over her tail, fins, and white skin as he circled around her in every direction. Nothing seemed out of place except the pained look on her face. He paused in front and peered close to take in her eyes. "Does it hurt bad?"

She squinted her eyes open against the ache to her skull and gasped. Hands instinctively shot out and shoved him away, though she moved herself in the process. She was always uncomfortable with someone who wasn't her own clan being so close. After the recent brushes with death, anything with teeth that got too close to her made her nervous.

His tail thrashed in attempt to keep from spinning too far out of control. He circled around her again before remaining at a more respectable distance. "I apologize for my actions. I was asleep and heard something nearby. Instinct to defend myself kicked in before I knew it was you. Please don't think that I attacked you on purpose! I'm sorry that you're in pain right now. I wish there was something I could do to help you."

She managed a smile at his words. They were sincere and downtrodden. He meant every one of them and it made her happy that he felt so down about an accident.

Over the pain in her head, what would soon go away, she moved a pace to him and crossed her arms in jest. Her lips tilted a little more, head tilting to the side. "Well...at least I can now believe you when you say that you're better than any weapon."

He blinked a few times before he smiled back at the joke. "A perfect killing machine, at your service." He lightly responded, an arm sweeping out in a bow. "Just send me out and I can take care of anything for you without fear."

She made an amused noise. "I actually had a few things I could've used you on not too long ago. Pity you weren't there." She muttered, turning for the caves. She remembered the weapon she had brought which was still at the bottom of the cave space. She figured that for now it would be fine and she'd return it later.

"Sounds like you had an exciting time at home." He mused, head tilting to the side. He sobered a little when her arms went around herself and she looked less than amused. Scared might have been a better description. He suddenly wondered what had happened to her after she left so many moons ago, but decided against asking questions. Judging from her posture and the anxious pushes of her tail, those times weren't good in the slightest and he felt like a change of topic was needed.

He inched forward when she didn't look his way and made to put a hand on her shoulder, though he restrained himself. "If you're here to give your report to father, he left with the night and said he planned to be gone for the evening. He was going hunting for food and to look around the area. He likes to take in the distance himself on occasion instead of letting others report to him."

He suddenly perked up and smiled. "Hey, we should go out too! I bet you could use a meal after such a journey. Well," He openly took in her frail form, "you always look like you could use a meal I guess. Father intends on being gone for a while so we don't need to wait around here."

Her lips pressed together. She just wanted to report about the vents and then head home! She didn't want to spend an entire night up here because that was going to make things much worse in the end for her! The last time had taken what felt like forever to readjust to the pressure; who knew how much more horrible it would be if she stayed later than she usually did?

She wasn't given much of a choice though. Gabriel was gone and intended on being so for a while. She didn't want to wait and do nothing, and she COULD use a meal for the journey home... Maybe if she was going to end up waiting this long, she could indulge herself and digest it now so she didn't have to worry about what the pressure would do to her stomach later.

She finally crossed her arms and nodded. "Alright. But just for a while! I don't want to miss your father should he come back before he intends."

He smiled and swam up so they could get around the reef walls. "Wouldn't dream of it princess. I'm a little hungry myself and my nose always works best when I am. This shouldn't take too long."

'Too long' ended up taking them into open water and farther from the reef than she wanted. It wasn't because she was worried about attack, not with a tiger clan member next to her, but she didn't want to waste more time swimming back. She really only followed him because he said he smelled something good. He didn't know where, but he went by his trusty nose and after a bit, she picked it up too.

Then she saw it.

Its underbelly shone off the moonlight and told her exactly where it was. Nothing else was in the area, which meant it had fled and didn't make it. Wasn't making it. Even as they slowly approached it, it was mostly still with the occasional flop which she assumed was in pain and desperate urge to survive.

A young, great white.

Or it had been. There was quite a chunk taken out of its side where a fin used to exist. Something had preyed on the predator and managed quite a bit. There was a noticeable mouth indentation presented her way, along with a cloud of dark which she assumed was blood.

"That thing smells great!" He suddenly broke in.

She quickly grabbed his wrist, just knowing he was planning on rushing the creature. She met his eyes in the dark, feeling hers shine with the moon and shook her head.

"Give it a little more time. It's almost done for and then you can go for it. Better to wait for it to be dead than attempt one final, defensive attack."

He pulled away and crossed his arms, not looking at their meal or her. "You're so careful. I'm not worried about it attacking me. That's why you go for the throat under the mouth and drain the blood so it dies faster."

She heaved a sigh, not about to get into a debate on killing tactics with a shark-kin. If she did, surely some other predator would smell out their catch and then they would not only miss it, they'd have to fight for their lives if the predator was large and aggressive.

After another minute, he broke away with a comment that they'd waited long enough and hadn't seen any movement. The thrill at such a huge, easy meal excited him and he sped through the water, leaving her behind without much thought to her own safety. His hands extended to grab the top fin and his mouth sunk into the thick flesh, tasting blood and thrashing in order to tear a piece off.

She watched him eat for a moment, having never seen him go at a meal with such enthusiasm before. She made sure he saw her before attempting to dig in and when she mimicked his movements, she felt his eyes as she pulled away with a chunk in her mouth.

He paused for only a second and took in her pointy teeth, glowing eyes, pale skin, and blood coming from her mouth. She looked eery...and yet beautiful in some way. Savage...like a great predator despite being a Tench clan. He smiled at the thought and went back to joining her in ripping the now dead shark apart.

She ate more than she probably should have, but couldn't help herself. It tasted great and perhaps she got carried away with him next to her. He certainly didn't hold back and his stomach must have been close to bursting as he tried to pick the shark clean to its bones. She watched him eat with vigor and part of her felt like joining in. She had never been so full in her entire life, but she didn't regret it. She had planned on allowing herself this in preparation to digest as she waited.

Still, it was a nice change of pace...

Their leisurely eating time changed after another great white showed up, followed by a hammerhead. While the great white would have been interested in the meal, one hammerhead meant many more from its pod could show up and that wasn't a competition she wanted to see. She knew they were vicious when food was around and she didn't want to be mistaken for something edible.

Although, if anything took a bite out of her tail, they'd be paralyzed while she escaped.

"Just one more chunk." He insisted, taking a quick bite off the side as the great white circled them. He watched the predator go around and waited till it was on the opposite side before acting. In a flash, he grasped her wrist and tore off in a means of escape before the shark could cross the area. Not that it would, he knew. The shark was there as they had been, for a quick and easy meal. So long as he didn't swim in its path and left the carcass, the shark would pay no attention to them.

He sadly left the meal there to be picked clean as he took them to some random direction in open water. She didn't say a word and followed as fast as she could with the design of her tail. She wasn't built for such speed and so he slowed after he felt they were in the clear.

They paused and he twisted in the water to see her. She fingered the wrist he was just holding and looked to him after a minute in the dark. Her eyes flashed, but she looked pleased. He was glad that being full made her happy.

He smiled and looked around. They were nowhere near home, but he didn't care. It had been a good night, but it wasn't over for a long time. "This has been fun." He commented, more to himself than her. He looked up to the moon, seeing the moving ball of light from the waves above. "Want to have some more?"

She followed his gaze and spotted the glow before looking back to him. She stared at him and almost saw an idea form as he quietly kept looking up. Her eyes narrowed, brows furrowing. "What are you intending?" She hesitantly queried. Her tail brought her back a pace.

He smiled and swam closer. His burning curiosity, the cursed thing that had gotten him in trouble more than once, started showing up. "Want to go explore? I bet you haven't seen the sky, have you?"

"I have no need for the air above." She muttered, feeling wary. The happy look on his face didn't waiver and it was making her nervous. "Why?"

He suddenly grabbed her hand and started swimming up. "Let's go! You won't be disappointed; I promise!"

"This is a bad idea!" She quickly denied, tugging on her arm for him to free her. "What if there are humans up there?!"

He scoffed and kept swimming, his stronger grip easily keeping her with him. "We're in open water. The humans live closer to the reefs than they do out here. We'll be fine."

"We'll be at the top of the water where everything can see us!" She hotly insisted. The moon was getting much brighter and she squinted against it. "We'll be attacked for sure!"

"You worry too much." He quipped. "I'll make short work of anything that tries to come near us. Besides, it's dark outside and it'll be hard for anything to see us right now."

That didn't mean she had to like being forced to do so! If she poked her head out of the water, she wouldn't be able to hear anything going on below! As it was, her pressure senses were gone and would be gone until she was back at home and able to swim freely. Her sense of smell would be useless too. She had never seen the sky before and she had no point to. She didn't need to see the moon and know what the air felt like!

That didn't mean she was any less impressed when she laid eyes on hundreds of glowing dots in the sky though.

Her mouth fell open as she looked to a streak of light across the sky. It was beautiful and she almost forgot to keep moving her tail just enough to keep only her face out of the water and not bring her too high up so her gills were away from her ability to breathe. She barely registered his grip in hers, lax as he took in the scene with her. She spared him only a second and found his head and neck above water, allowing him the freedom to turn as he wished.

He was silent for the longest time, seeing the shock and joy on her features. It pleased him to see her take such a liking to what he got to see any time of night. This was something she would never get the pleasure of knowing unless she came up for her reports, such as now. The daytime might be too much for her sensitive eyes, but the night was perfect. He was glad he made her come up here.

"Pretty, isn't it?" He finally asked.

She jerked to him as if forgetting he was still around. She burst into a brilliant smile and nodded. "It's...amazing." She stuttered, fumbling for the right words. Her eyes shown with the moon as she looked up again. "I've never seen the moon look so...still before." Her brow furrowed at her choice of words. "Unmoving. I've always seen it from under water. It's so different to break the waves and see it in the air."

"Yes, it can be a different experience when you come up here and actually get to see the stars and the moon without the water in your way."

"Stars..." She quietly echoed. "Those are stars..." She twisted and looked to the entire sky. "I've never seen them before." She suddenly looked his way with kind eyes. "Thank you for showing me this."

He smiled, looking to the slow waves that lapped around them. He could tell she was sincere and really meant those words. It warmed his heart to hear them. "You're welcome." He mumbled, turning away. A different glow in the distance caught his attention and his excitement shifted. "Hey! Let's go check that out!"

It was strange and she instantly didn't like it. Coming up to see the stars was one thing, but she had a feeling she could figure out what he was pointing to. "Is...is that -"

"The human's rock." He finished, tail already pushing him away from her.

She startled and followed only because he was offense and she was defense and she didn't know what to do should he get too far. Her paranoia spiked at his lack of fear and she wanted to be cross, but she was only getting more worried the closer they got. "I don't think this is a good idea!" She fearfully insisted, unable to get close enough to grasp at him.

"We'll stay under water when we get there. The humans can't see in the dark and I know because I've found this out first hand."

He was an idiot! She took back every kind thing she suddenly thought he was by letting her see the sky above!

She didn't know where she was and didn't want to spend the entire evening trying to find her way back. She had to stick close to him because this was his home and he could get to the reefs much easier than she ever could. Plus, he said that the humans lived near his reefs so they were kind of going that direction, even though he veered off after a bit for something else.

They finally ducked under the water once the light got too bright and kept swimming. She followed with such sheer reluctance, mind chaotic as so many horrible things kept running through her mind. None of this was going to end well, she just knew it!

 _Soft_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=0c0FBSUd1Hk_


	7. In the hands of humans

The sand was the first thing she noticed. It was large and ugly, looking almost like tiny rocks as they swam over it. She took it in, along with how low the water was from the sand they were over. The water was getting even shallower and it was only adding to the horrible feelings she was having.

The inability to easily move and swim away, along with the moon so close and making her shine, not to mention the fact that they were going toward the humans...! It was horrible and every instinct told her to flee immediately.

"This is such a bad idea." She kept mumbling, eyes darting in every direction. She could see everything, though nothing was there, but that didn't help her in the slightest. "So bad. Horrible. A terrible idea...why are we doing this?! Why do we have to be here?"

He quietly laughed at her rambling the same words over and over, even as she swam next to him. He reached out to give her arm a pat, but she jerked and swam away as if he were an enemy. He got close and faced her a little. "Relax. The humans are usually day creatures. I just wanted to see why they had such bright lights on when the moon is out."

She flashed her teeth at him and glared. "Relax?!" She hissed. "You take things too lightly! We're in the human's territory! They are fierce predators! Don't you understand that concept?!"

He smiled and waved off her words, turning to look ahead. "I live around the humans. Of course I understand this."

"I don't think you do." She darkly murmured, looking ahead. A thread of wonder hit her at something unmoving and upright in the water. "Wh – what's that?!"

He squinted and looked her way with a smile. "The humans call it a wharf. Don't worry. It's just...um...how to explain it to you? It's like dead wood that they put far into the sand so they can walk out over the water, but not get in it."

"Sounds utterly ridiculous."

He laughed. "Yea...I guess it is... They would just get in, if they weren't so scared." He looked as they neared it and his gaze turned up past the waters for the planks they had put down. "Looks like no one is there though."

"Good, that means we can head back now!"

He smirked and kept swimming, even though she slowed drastically. "What's your rush? It's still night out and father is probably not back. Your report isn't going anywhere. Let's have some fun. You can explain something new to those that will never be able to see such sights as you are now."

Nails dug into her flesh and she wanted to hit him with her fists. Swimming away would be a better option, but she was scared to leave him here by himself. It was a sense of clan that kept her rooted near him, though he was more than able to take care of himself. He probably was, but they were among humans and they could do things she had never seen possible, so it was a probability they could catch him. She had heard such tales after all...

Still, his foolishness was great and nothing good was going to come out of how lazily he was swimming around the wood. She inched closer, eyes on him and everything else in the area. "I could live my entire life and be happy to never have such a close encounter with the humans! Their presence in our own waters is bad enough."

Never had she been more scared at a simple 'outing' than right now. She never wanted to see humans or have anything to do with them! As far as she was concerned, they were just as bad as any eel or fish with big teeth that wanted to eat her.

If Adrien attempted to touch her like he did before swimming ahead, she was probably going to release her toxins despite her better judgment. She was more on edge than she had been when she was attacked twice in one day and only getting back to the reef could calm her down. She could almost feel the folds in her tail peeking open in readiness to help her escape.

Why couldn't they go back?!

She watched him circle the wood and touch it. He shook his hand as something slimy came off with his fingers. He commented on the feel and texture, eventually sticking his fingers in his mouth and making disgusted noises. She shook her head at his childlike behavior, even though he was still young, as indicated by the stripes on his tail. She couldn't be much older than he was, but why did she feel like the mother and child here? She suddenly felt like it, since he was acting like an inexperienced hatchling just in his first year.

The place was silent and yet she was on high alert for anything. She kept circling the area, turning in every direction for fish and humans alike. She refused to get stuck and caught because of his idiocy. She didn't even know why she was here! It felt like another world and although she didn't want to let herself get caught up in this, she was...even a little.

The only time she had ever seen the human world was when they came to the deep waters or she heard reports from other clans who had seen one. She assumed all of them to be these large, colored things that breathed at odd times and moved slow in the pressure. Never did she think they could make something as the clans did. This structure she was around was strange and she had never seen anything like it in her life. Not in all her travels across the waters, not to the homes of other clans, not amongst all the strange creatures she had seen.

So maybe she was a LITTLE more than 'not interested'...

The longer her heart beat and nothing happened, the more she felt herself relax little by little. It didn't keep her tail from readying itself for use, but the ability to control it was a tad easier. Her hands started to steady themselves and not shake quite so much. Her breathing wasn't as choppy and her gills weren't flapping as fast to help her breathe.

He watched her from a distance and how still she seemed, despite the occasional tail movement. She was so focused and he really didn't want to scare her by approaching right now, but he felt he needed to give her some reassurance. He had been to places like this many times and as long as it was night and quiet, the humans usually weren't around. Even in the few instances that they were, he just made sure to stay well out of the way and they couldn't tell he was there. If they spotted him in the water, he would just quickly swim away and they couldn't track him.

He wanted her to enjoy a place she had never been to without worrying so much. She always did, but that came with being a Tench.

"Hey." He quietly called. He abandoned the wharf and swam back her way at its edge. "It's okay. There are no humans here. We would have heard them if they were because they make a lot of noise."

Her arms tightened around herself as she kept her back to him. She ignored his swimming near, even if her ears perked up at the noises his tail was making.

"I mean it. It's alright. We're safe and you have nothing to worry about. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you, okay? I promise on my father and myself that I'll protect you."

His word had something of an effect and her shoulders loosened from their hunched stance around her. Her head tilted his way, looking at him over her shoulder and the hand he put there. His fingers briefly tightened on her flesh and she sighed. She twisted a little more to face him. "It's...just that...here is -"

Garbled voices suddenly reached through the water. She didn't know what the humans were saying and she didn't care. All she knew of was that they suddenly weren't alone and she hadn't sensed them. A wave of panic so strong enveloped her that she lost control. Never had she she been so close to what felt like humans right above her and so scared that she would die than right now.

The toxins in her tail exploded...with Adrien in prime range.

She gasped and tried to push him away from the opaque cloud. Her tail did what it was designed to though and muddied the waters with the paralyzing liquid, spreading it out and getting him caught up in it even as she attempted to hurry him from it.

He choked words and twitched as the effects quickly took hold. His arms flopped down, tail slowing its stance in the water. His head drooped, body becoming useless. He was a dead fish in the water, in more ways than one, should the humans see him.

She stifled a scream and wrapped her arms around his chest to help keep him from sinking to the shallows. Her arms shook, tail thrashing as quietly as she could. It was a feat to keep from churning the waters in her panic. Her mind attempted to make rational thought as she looked above when harsh pounding was heard and voices got almost above her location. Some kind of a glowing light bobbed closer and she started pushing back for deeper, open water and safety.

"Come on...come on..." She quietly coached herself, face contorted in fear and worry. Pulling him and herself to safety was harder than it looked. He was heavy and his body was like dragging a rock through the bottom of the ocean.

The light was suddenly over her and made it hard to see. She squinted against it and tried to dive for the sand below, but they were in too narrow of water to hide from it. She feared the humans above could see her and by the sudden loudness and urgency of the noise, they must have found her red tail glowing back at them.

Seconds later, something came through the water. It was small and fast, mostly silent, but heavy. It put a hole right through part of her fin...drawing blood and sending a stab of pain through her muscles.

She grit her teeth against the pain and forced herself to keep going, much as she would if she were swimming back to the deep waters after a visit from the upper waters. More things shot through the water around her, faster than Adrien could ever swim, and just as dangerous. She didn't know what they were, didn't want to take time to stop and figure it out with Adrien still unable to move let alone ask. All she could do was flee and pray they didn't both die in the attempt!

Six things came through the water from above before she passed the reef and into deeper water. She could smell blood as she fled, knowing she was leaving a trail. She feared the humans would follow it, but there was nothing larger than what kept trying to hit her in the water. The humans didn't jump in and try to swim after her, much to her relief.

Dragging Adrien to safety was hard with his tail flopping around hers. She was much smaller than he was and even if she could pull him by the hand, they were shaking so badly that she could barely keep a grip around his chest right now!

She bit her tongue more than once on a scream of fear that wanted to erupt from her. She chanted, lectured, herself to keep swimming, to push faster through the water. Never had she needed the comfortable safety of darkness more than now! Never before did she so feel the desperate need to disappear so nothing else could see her!

He finally twitched when the wharf disappeared and they were shrouded in darkness. His head shook slowly, hands coming up to touch something...anything. His mouth opened to form words, but his tongue felt like it didn't exist and his head wasn't clear.

She gasped at his movements, but twisted in the water to remain upright as he came to. "Adrien?! Are you okay?! Can you hear me?" She grasped at his arms and pushed in the water, feeling elated when his tail started to help keep them from sinking.

His head finally rose and took in her features, blinking in shock at all he saw there. Terror. Pain. Happiness. Sadness. Relief. She was showing him so many things and it confused him as to why. "Where...are we?" He mumbled, bringing a hand to his face. The touch felt foreign, his muscles slow to respond. "What...happened...?"

"I'm so sorry that I paralyzed you! I didn't mean to! I was so scared at the wharf and then the humans showed up! I tried to drag you away so you didn't get caught because you couldn't move because of me! I'm sorry Adrien! I never meant to paralyze you!"

Blood suddenly met his nose and he looked around. It got stronger when her tail moved and he looked to it in the darkness. "You...you're hurt..."

She blinked and pasted on a quick smile. "It's nothing much. Just my fin. I'm more happy that we're alive."

He ignored her passing off whatever happened to her when he was unresponsive and swam to her tail. He halted her movement as he grasped the narrowest part, finding a circular hole in part of her wide fin. "The humans...they hit you with a gun?"

"What's that?"

She would never know what lived above the waters because of where she usually lived. She would have never known such a word as 'gun' until tonight...because of him. She had been shot at by the humans for merely dragging him to safety and getting caught up in their weapons. He slowly released her tail and looked away, feeling guiltier than he ever thought he could feel. Very little blood seeped out, but she was still bleeding and all because of his idiocy.

He looked to her, feeling such sorrow overcome him because of his actions. "I'm...sorry..." He muttered, unable to look at her any longer. His hand fumbled for hers and grabbed a wrist as he started back for the reef in a sluggish pace. "Let's go home."

She blinked, but followed. She noticed the stance of his shoulders, the way he didn't say a word the entire distance back, and the languid movements of his tail. She wondered if he was still affected by her toxins, but they weren't permanent and were short-lived. He should be fine by now...so why...?

Did he hate her because of what she did to him? He was a fierce predator and perhaps he had some hidden pride about that? Had she stolen that from him when she forced him into submission and unable to even twitch? She knew she could have killed him had all his muscles, his lungs included, decided to stop working. Such was a side-effect of her toxins and she was well aware of it. His heart also could have stopped if the attack were potent enough...

He didn't look at her the entire time, purposely keeping his face away from her and on the road ahead. It wasn't because he was angry and didn't want to see her, it was because he could smell her blood quite clearly. Even when he was dragging her and they were moving away from the small trail she was creating, it was more than enough for his nose. He was at the source and instinct told him to take advantage of wounded prey.

Never had the tiger clan's reef looked more inviting and safe. She took her arm back when he finally released her at the entrance to the walls.

He turned and faced her after scanning the area for others. There were still very few about and he was glad. He couldn't help but smell blood the entire time home and it drove his senses crazy. It kept telling him to attack the source and eat it, and it was horrible to fight his instincts. He would never attack her...but he feared any of the clan would before they saw her. She trailed blood almost the entire distance, thin, but still discernible. He could smell blood for a long ways to find food and he was leading her home while she was injured.

"Come with me. We need to fix your wound."

"What is that lovely smell?"

The pair whipped over as the two from earlier slowly came there way. The pair looked from him, then her with a smile. "Have a little trouble in open water did you?"

She glared at the pair and how they were looking her way, when a hand went in front of her in a defensive motion. She looked over and saw tense shoulders of Adrien's back and the gills that flapped almost erratically.

He knew the looks on the faces of his clan and he gave them a look of retribution should they even attempt as drink her blood. The scary look on his face kept them from coming closer and definitely grabbed their attention. His eyes narrowed, teeth baring. "I'll bite both of your stomachs and expose your entrails if you so much as think of her as your next meal." He turned to her and grabbed a hand, quickly going around his kin. "Let's go Marinette."

Shocked was too light of a word as she processed the words he just spoke. She barely kept up with him, mostly pulled along by his strength. She was too stunned to do much else. He had pretty much announced he would kill his own clan if she was hurt! She was flattered and his declaration helped knock off a few layers of guilt and unease.

They swam around until he found his space and entered the caves. It was full of a few things and he stopped in the center of the slightly large opening. "Stay here." He murmured, pushing her away from the cave opening. "No one should bother you while I'm gone."

She startled and swam after, grabbing his wrist, but he yanked it free. "Are you still mad at me? I will apologize as many times as it takes until you forgive me. Please don't hate me for my mistake!"

His head dipped at her words, but his tail stopped trying to get him away from her. He sighed and twisted to her, trying not to breathe in too deeply. She needed to be kept away from others, but her blood may just fill the entire caves if she went untreated. It needed to be done soon because he knew what was going to happen if he let her keep bleeding.

He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a kind look. "I don't hate you. I'm not mad about what you did. I'm mad about what I caused to have happen to us. That whole thing was my fault and you're even injured because of it."

He quickly looked away, hand sliding off her shoulder. "I...I just can't...stay here...with your blood in the water..." His tail pushed him toward the exit and only managed to stir up the water. It didn't help matters and he twitched at how good she smelled. "I don't trust myself so close to you right now. I don't want to hurt you in any way. I'm going to head out and look for something to put in your wound so that you at least stop bleeding."

She slowly nodded, head muddled at his honesty. She knew he wouldn't attack her, but his instincts couldn't help it. He would do as he was bred to do, just as she had done to him at the wharf despite her head telling her not to. They had minds with which to think, but nature was often stronger than they were. He was trying to fight himself by putting distance between them until he could calm down.

Not like her blood wouldn't escape the caves...not like he couldn't smell it for miles anyway...

Things were complicated right now and he was going to do what he could to make them better. She smiled and stopped moving her tail to stop pushing more blood out. She slowly fell to the bottom of the reef and looked up at him. "I shall wait here for your return." She responded, hands going to her fin. She poked the hole through where her skin used to be and pressed on the flesh to keep the blood in. "Stay away as long as you need."

He gave her a grateful smile and nodded, slowly swimming out for open water and an kelp patch he knew of a small ways away.

 _Dramatic_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=8H4hlfVcxpk_


	8. Staying in the upper waters

"My son is a fool and I hope you can find it in you to forgive him Marinette."

She smiled and looked Adrien's way. Her face turned gentle at seeing how he all but refused to look at her, hands behind his back, tail anxiously thrashing. She already knew of his guilt, had heard him speak of it, and didn't hold the incident against him.

She looked to Gabriel with a confident smile. "It was merely an accident Gabriel. Little harm was done and the bleeding stopped once he tended to my wound." She gave him a quick glance to find only his eyes directed her way. He looked away when she found him staring at her. "Please don't be so harsh on him sir. I hold nothing against him."

Gabriel sighed and shook his head. "You're better than I am then. After he told me what had happened, I was about ready to match your wound on his tail with my teeth, but decided against it."

"I'm glad you didn't." She looked more openly at Adrien who bashfully smiled at her. "Things can happen at any moment of time in one's life. I know this from having near death experiences the second I swim out of my cave for food." She turned to Gabriel and nodded.

Gabriel smiled a little at her and turned to his son. "Our graceful visitor has spared your life. Don't think that I would have done the same in my anger at your idiotic visits to the human world. Many times I've told you to stay away from there and I hope this time you finally listen to me."

He slowly nodded. "Yes...father..." He glanced at Marinette before looking away again. "I'll...go and check for more kelp for her wound while she gives her report." He looked to pale blue watching him before ducking his head away, still heavily feeling the guilt of his actions. "I'll return soon princess."

The pair watched him swim away. Gabriel turned back to her first and sighed again. "I apologize that you had to deal with the humans in such a manner. Paralyzing my son is the last thing you should worry about." His eyes drifted down to the wrapping of her fin.

She finally looked his way. "This doesn't affect our relations in the slightest. I will continue to act as if it never happened."

Gabriel nodded. "Thank you. Now, for that report you have been waiting so long to give me..."

Had it only been the evening since she arrived for that very purpose? So much had happened between her arrival and now and it felt like she had been here for days already...even if the sun was barely up.

She thought all the way back to Nathaniel's visit shortly after her return and the details of his report to her clan. She followed it up with her visit to his trench, along with what she personally witnessed from the vents. There wasn't much else to give of other clans during this time since the journey to the other trench took a lot of her attention. No one else from the lower waters had visited either Tench clan, but that didn't mean someone was there now while she was away.

"We still don't know what the extreme temperatures mean." She finished, thoughtfully looking away. "Even when I saw for myself, I couldn't figure it out. The heat didn't seem to come up past the general area and my clan has reported they felt nothing of it in our land. We all hope that it goes away soon on its own without anything else happening."

"That would be for the best." Gabriel agreed with a nod. "Let's hope that such a thing occurs without anything else following it. Nothing has been known up here because of it and even with my own patrol, I found nothing strange." He led in with his report of his area and how quiet it seemed. There was nothing for him to worry about, and he was an avid worrier of his home with so many things from above and below the waters around them.

He finished off with what Adrien had gotten from Chloe during his visit to the other side of the human rock. There was nothing from Alya and Nino's clans this time, since they had begun migrating across the ocean and were probably very far away.

A yellow flash nearby caught Gabriel's attention and his features softened a bit. "What will you do now Marinette? Will you head home?" His eyes moved to her fin again. "I suggest you stay here and let my idiot son keep looking after you. He seems very willing to do so."

She met Gabriel's gaze, finding it directed behind her and twisted to follow it. She found Adrien near one of the walls, a respectable distance away...arms laden with long kelp leaves. A smile graced her face as she thought. She had already spent too much time above as it was and life back in the depths was going to be even more painful than usual...but Adrien looked so sad from where he was across the way...

He still blamed himself for everything that happened and she didn't have the heart to leave now when her tail wasn't better and make it seem like she hated him. Even if that incident was technically his fault, she didn't care anymore.

She didn't want to head home when smell and pressure were the best senses most predators in the deep had. If she started bleeding again, she would be easy prey for anything nearby. Creatures would come to find her and she only had one set of toxins. They were almost useless on the way home due to her being not adapted to the changes in pressure. Also, she wasn't a fast swimmer with the way her fins were designed. She wouldn't make it all the way home injured as she was. Despite how bad it was going to be upon the return, she could stand to risk it just this once.

"I think I'll let your 'idiot son' keep tending to me." She mused, smiling his way. He wasn't close enough to touch, his hearing was good and he grinned at her comment. She watched some of the unease leave his features and her hand extended his way. "I do believe that my tail needs some looking after Gabriel."

Gabriel smiled and looked as his son started coming their way. He rested a hand on her shoulder and briefly got her attention. "While I say my soon is a fool, he is a kind fool. He will do everything in his power to make you well quickly so you can return to the depths Marinette."

She nodded and turned, finding way too much kelp in his arms. Her brow rose momentarily, though she was amused he thought she needed so much. "I think the same. My report is over Gabriel and I think I'll retreat to my given space for now."

"Have a good rest. I'll be around if you need anything."

She led the way to her borrowed space in the reef and Adrien silently followed. He said nothing as they entered and she presented her tail for him to look at. He put down all the kelp for her to rest on instead of sharp rock and started undoing what he'd wrapped around her tail.

It was strange to hear him say nothing when he usually had something to say. Whether it was stupid or not, he always spoke at the oddest times and in the worst situations. The last time she remembered such a time was when he took her to the lower waters, where sound was a very bad idea. He didn't stop talking, but in the safety of his own reef, he was quiet as a stone.

"Are you not going to say anything for the rest of the day?" She joked, giving him an amused look.

His eyes jerked up to hers, trying very hard to focus on the task at hand. He blinked at her before very pointedly looking to the hole in her fin, face solemn.

Her hand moved before she could think. She pulled his chin and face up to meet hers, leaning over her tail a little. "I don't know what else to tell you to stop beating yourself up over what happened." She quietly began, eyes soft. She sighed and looked to her fin. "I was true in my words to your father. I bear you no ill will and you didn't damage relations with my clan in the deep waters. What happened was abrupt and strange; that's all I can say about it. The humans weren't there and then they suddenly were. We can't control them, just as they didn't control our going to their wharf. It just was." She squeezed his chin a little. "Please don't feel this way for much longer if you must hold yourself to what you did." Her lips tilted. "I won't try to harm you like your father was about ready to." That finally got something out of him. His lips twitched and he snorted in amusement at her joke.

His hands slowly resumed the work he had put everything into. He looked back to her fin and the circle now marring the once perfect flesh. It was probably going to remain that way for the rest of her life.

He finally sighed and adjusted on the rock to be less uncomfortable. He stared at the wound, face becoming serious. "The next time I see you, I'll look to your fins." A hand rose, fingers brushing over the surface. "I'll never forget what happened to you." His eyes darted to hers, finding her avidly watching him. "You saved my life last night from the humans. You were shot at because of it. They marred your perfect tail. You risked your life for me and I will never forget that. I will make myself remember, just as I remember everything from all those boring reports we have to swim to get."

Her hand floated out and paused between them. He almost refused to look at her and so she cupped his jaw and moved his face up to her. He didn't fight her the second time either. His eyes widened at the soft look she was giving him.

How she used to be so irritated with his kind and all the stigmas they had created... How she was forced to come up here to give her report because his body would never hold against the pressure of the depths... She suddenly berated herself for being so negative to such a kind clan. The tiger clan was a fierce predator, but they had acts of goodness in them like any other creature did.

"You are so kind..." She nearly whispered. Her smile suddenly widened. "You know...I used to hate your clan because of the pain I was forced to endure every time I went home. I was a fool to think such horrible things about you all. You have shown me that, in times of danger, you are so much better than I thought you were." She leaned back and looked to a random part of the enclosure, feeling humbled.

"Though I will be sad to say this, I am used to such danger. My life in the depths is always full of predators that would try to tear off my limbs and save the rest for later. I never know when the time I leave my cave will be my last. I was attacked twice in one day just after I got back home. I almost died twice, but I didn't. I can't think too much to those horrible things because I am not a predator. I am prey for those with big teeth. I have to focus on surviving and getting away. There's not much else that I can do."

He gripped her hand, eyes flashing at how sad and pathetic her life was. The Tench clan was not a predatory fish; they only had defenses to flee with, not fight. So opposite his tiger clan, who had all the things she ran from. Her words stung him though at how easily she accepted it, though she had thins he didn't. "That doesn't mean you still can't get angry about it! Get mad that such things happen to you! Do something about it!"

She gave him a bittersweet look. "What would you have me do?" She asked...as if an answer were there. "How can I change who I am? The only means I have to fight with are my tail and my toxins are hard to use. They are for running away with only. I don't live in the same waters as you do." She slowly pulled her hand back and patted his with it. "I can't escape the bad in my life, which is all I do. You are a predator and I am prey. You have teeth and hunt for blood. I can only hunt for snow and algae around my caves. Such is who we are."

His teeth clenched. She was so different than he was, but she was so much more amazing! She was smart, much smarter than he ever would be! She accepted this life, as bad as it was...but she was so much more. Last night showed who she could be in times of danger when she was threatened.

"I will admit that after my recent attacks, I thought of you and how confident you were. I stole a little of it on my way back home and I am thankful to you for it."

"You are stronger than you think. You never needed my help." He mumbled, looking away sheepishly. Her words touched him and they made him happy. He used to think that she hated him, but perhaps that wasn't the case... "All of your defenses make one big offense for you. You have so much more than I do at your disposal. It's quite amazing really...the things that you can do. I also hope you feel better about yourself soon." He looked at her, smile forming. "I also admit that I never thought much of you because of who you were...but now, I will rethink about you because of who you are."

She smiled, hand over her face in an attempt to hide her happiness at his words. He was good with speaking and it warmed her immensely to hear his praise. She had never thought much to her own abilities, only needing them in times of distress, but the way he put it made them seem like great things she was born with.

The silence that followed their honesty was nice. It wasn't full of a need to speak. He went back to her wound and she merely watched him tend to it. His hands worked well and she barely felt any pain because of it.

At length, her earlier words made it impossible for him to keep them to himself. "I'm sorry if this extended stay is going to cause you worse pain when you go home."

Her mouth opened and closed. He looked sad again and she sighed a little. She looked to the walls, mouth tight. "It...it's...unavoidable..." She finally mumbled, feeling his eyes. "Whether I was here for days or a short time, I would face the pain regardless because I leave the deep waters." She shrugged and looked to him. "I get used to it with time and then I'm back to normal."

" _It_ _takes_ _me_ _a_ _while_ _to_ _get_ _adapted_ _back_ _to_ _the_ _intense_ _pressure_ _so_ _my_ _bones_ _don't_ _crack_ _with_ _every_ _movement._ _That's_ _why_ _I'm_ _so_ _small._ _My_ _bones_ _are_ _fairly_ _thin_ _to_ _keep_ _from_ _being_ _crushed_ _by_ _the deep waters."_

He remembered her words during the last trip home. They had been very curious to him because he could never imagine such pressure in his entire life. Not even when he once squeezed his tail as hard as he could to see what it felt like, did it match up to what she described. Before this meeting, he once planned to head as far down as he could to see what the real pressure was, but he never did.

He stared at her in the silence and she easily met his eyes. He took her in, seeing more than a frail fish that he used to call her. He saw her as strange-looking and small, but there was so much more to her than what she appeared. She was tougher than he ever would be to have to deal with such things. She went home and dealt with bone-crushing pain with no outlet until it went away on its own and allowed her to move. "What's it like?" He heard himself say.

She stared at him for a minute before her hand slowly reached out. She kept his eyes as she brushed fingers across his face, through his hair, and to his ear...then squeezed as hard as she could.

His tail thrashed on instinct to get away at the pain, and kicked up sand and kelp. His hands rose to move her grip away, but she was stronger than he thought and he gave a cry of pain.

She let go after a second and moved back as if nothing had happened and the space wasn't full of dust. "Now," She murmured, hand slowly batting everything away, "just imagine such pain over your entire body for a long time. It refuses to go away until you just get used to it. Making it hard to breathe, to push the blood in your veins, to let your heart beat..."

He rubbed his abused ear, what still tingled from what she had inflicted. He suddenly had more respect for her than he ever thought he would and he looked at her with it in his eyes. "And that is what you go through every time for the sake of us in the middle and upper waters..."

She nodded quietly, looking away again.

He grabbed the kelp that had shifted over his tail and put them on the bottom of the space. He looked hard at her fin and the wound. The sand had mostly settled and let him see her again.

"I know it may not mean much, and you might always feel scared and frightened by being so bright in open water, but I will tell you this now." His eyes shot up to hers and speared her with a serious look. "I will prove to you that you are stronger than you think you are. You are so much more amazing than half of the clans I've visited in the upper, middle, or lower waters. You may deny me, but I will tell you time and time again until you believe it yourself. You're not just a mere chunk of flesh for some predator to eventually find!" His eyes flashed with resolution. "Before you leave here, I'll make you believe in yourself."

She gave a kind smile at his sincerity. He touched her again with such words and she wanted to believe him right now. The conviction and the truth that he believed as he spoke to her...

She didn't immediately answer him and he went back to her fin. She looked away, mind heavy for a while before she ever considered responding. "Well..." She nearly whispered, "I look forward to you proving me wrong then..."

His eyes jerked to hers and he gently smiled at her.

 _Emotional_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=FBMPtZ6gANA_


	9. Tell me more about yourself

The deep waters never had such a thing as 'light'. Not in the way that her clan knew. Everything was darkness and thus she slept whenever she felt tired. She never had the thought that darkness equated the need for sleep or daytime meant she needed to hide and rest for the evening. She went out when needed and rested when needed.

The upper waters were harder to adapt to than she had previously thought.

"Marinette? Ah! Sorry...did I wake you?"

She rubbed an eye open and sluggishly righted herself in her given space as Adrien's sheepish face met her vision. Ugh...she didn't have enough time! It was so hard to fall asleep with so much light everywhere... Her more than keep eyes picked up every spec, even in the caves. Nothing escaped her notice and even when the sun was out, she could still see perfectly.

It was so strange to spend more time above than what it took to give her report. Nothing was as she was used to, even if she had been here before. Aside from the few trips she made every so often, she never stayed and never went more than necessary. Now, she was going to live here until she was better and then head home. She hoped her clan didn't worry too much for her in the meantime.

"Marinette? Come on sleepy Tench, the sun has been up for a while in the sky and we should go hunt for food!"

She rubbed hands over her face in attempt to wake up and looked at him, slightly unhappy at his presence. She didn't really want to eat more already, but she hadn't had anything since that great white find last night and the lack of pressure was allowing her stomach to expand. Add on all of the excitement and movement last night and she had pretty much used up that larger than normal meal. Maybe it was okay to indulge herself again...

She gave his youthful exuberance a small smile and slowly moved to him, shaking her head as she went. He swam into the expanded space to turn around and she led the way out of the caves.

She squinted as the sun beat down into the water. She could see her tail flash around her and the paleness of her skin shine. "Ugh...it's so bright!" She complained, eyes squeezing shut. Hands flew to cover them in attempt to help.

He smiled and faced her. "That's just because you've been in the caves too long. Do you want to hunt around the reef or go deeper to the middle waters?"

Since there was no easy way to find food, aside from picking off the algae nearby, she figured she'd see what was out there. If he was around, she didn't have anything to worry about.

Adrien was going to rub off on her and she was going to end up losing her head if she wasn't careful. She looked to him to find him watching her, tail excitedly thrashing the water around her. She felt her lips tilt upward as she watched him, his happiness coming through the water toward her. She almost felt it touch her and shrugged. "I suppose if I decide to hunt amongst the algae, you would complain long and loud until I gave in and went into open waters with you."

He smiled and grasped her hand, pushing off and heading over the reef wall. She let him drag her, hardly needing to swim with the power of his tail. A hand moved the hair stuck against her face and looked around at the day shining into the water.

At least she didn't fear being caught with as easy as it was to see so far away. Even if she was a bright red object to be seen as well.

He didn't stop until they had cleared the reef. When he let her go, he turned and squinted at how bright she was. He smiled and circled her playfully. "What do you think we'll find out here? Another great white? That was such a nice surprise."

Her arms crossed as she watched him leisurely circle her, lips twitching. "I'm hoping we don't find any great whites with the way I look. I can see the color of my tail everywhere around us and I honestly don't like it. Even if we go into the lower waters where it's darker, I may still shine too much." Her eyes went to her tail and she tried to move it as little as possible to keep her scales from catching the light.

He smiled and faced her. "You worry too much! You have me here and so long as you don't paralyze me again, I'll do a much better of job of protecting you from harm."

She gave him an amused look, chin tilting. "So long as you don't do anything foolish for the rest of our time out here, I may not have to."

He quietly laughed as he pushed away and started in some direction. "I make no promises princess."

She stifled a laugh and followed him. They swam in comfortable silence and she took that brief pause to marvel at how nice it was to talk with him. Now that they weren't in danger of silent hunters in the depths and it was easy to see so far ahead, speaking was okay and it was actually fun. She never figured he had much of a sense of humor, just like she usually didn't, but he was changing that. The more time she spent around him, the more she learned...and found very pleasant.

"Do you want to head down where it's darker? Will you be okay to do so?"

She looked to him to find concern and curiosity. She looked in the direction of down and contemplated. "It couldn't hurt. My eyes will feel a little better and with your nose, nothing will be able to sneak up on us. My tail is strong enough to handle it if we go slow."

"You won't have too many issues with the pressure?"

She smiled. "It would be a problem if we got to the bottom of the lower waters where it's hard for you to see. If we don't go that far down, I'll be fine."

He was quiet for only a moment as they shifted angles and went for the dark. He smelled his way around, but nothing seemed promising. The darkness reminded him of her real home and the curious thread of her land wove itself around his mind. He had always been a little curious about a place he would never know. Perhaps now was a good time to ask. "So...tell me about your home."

She looked to him in surprise. This was sudden. "Why? You can't possibly be that bored already."

He smiled and shook his head. "I'll never be able to go, so you may as well tell me. We've got plenty of time for it..."

She thought of her home, only slightly missing it and all the dangers it presented. "Well, you know how dark it gets in the lower waters right?" He nodded. "It's worse than that. I can kind of see in the lower waters, but in the deep waters, you have to strain to see anything and that's only because of the luminescent algae which grows on the ground...but that isn't very good light to work with either. That algae is really thin and short; not like how big the algae up here gets." She held her hands out and made roughly the general size some grew to. "The only reason I can use it to see is because of the eyes I was born with. Otherwise, predators sit in the blackness and you wouldn't be able to see them even if you ran into them."

She shivered and looked to her hand as she remembered her run in with the daggertooth. "There are a lot of fish down there that glow like me. They use it to look for a mate or attract food. All of them are dangerous so if I see one, I make sure to go around until they disappear. Light down there isn't a help, it's dangerous."

She recanted how she was attacked when she was out looking for snow. How she accidentally hit a daggertooth and hadn't even known it was there. She described how many fish hung in the water to save energy and phsyically mimicked how big mouth eels usually stayed as they waited for food. She compared the organs he had which he used to float in the water to those living in the depths.

"The eel that almost got me after the first attack was big and it's teeth were this long." She held up a finger to his face. "They have huge jaws and they're fast. Most things don't have large fins in the depths because they don't move and it's just more that the body has to take care of. I have the fins at my sides, but they don't work and they're more to make me seem bigger when prey approach from a distance."

He looked to her sides and the frail pieces that floated uselessly in the water. She did seem bigger as they spread out around her whenever she stopped moving. He couldn't imagine having a piece of your body that did absolutely nothing. Every part of him had a perfectly good use.

"What else do you have that is for defense?" He suddenly asked, head tilting. "It seems like you have so much, I can't remember everything."

"You know how good my eyes are." He nodded. "And the paralytic toxins in my tail. Those are only short-term so that I can escape from an enemy...but just one use. After that, I have to rest and rebuild the toxins in my tail, which is difficult after I go back to the depths. I need to get used to the pressure so that I can make the fluid that stays in the folds under my scales."

"I also have senses that allow me to 'feel' through the water. Most fish in the deep waters do. When you can't see or hear because something isn't moving, you have to be able to feel how close it is to you." Her lips scrunched up for a moment. "It's...hard to explain. Kind of like how you can smell something well so far away...but you can feel it with your arms and tail instead of your nose."

He gave a thoughtful hum and looked to his hands. He stared for a moment before shaking his head and giving up. "I still don't understand..." He muttered, looking to her.

He probably didn't have such things built into him because of his location in the ocean. He had no need for such things. She suddenly stopped swimming when an idea hit and turned to him. "Here." She faced him when he stopped and put her hands up. "Put your palms to mine."

He did as told and looked at how small her fingers were compared to his. Her skin was so white while his was darker and rougher because of the sun. A small smile came to him as he took in their differences.

"You can feel that right?"

He nodded and looked between her fingers and her eyes. Her skin was softer than his, but slightly colder.

She very slowly pulled her hands away from his touch, fingers still spread. She paused when she was maybe a finger's width away from his hands and looked at him. "Can you feel that?"

He looked to the small space between their hands, brow furrowing in concentration. "Maybe...yea...a little."

She nodded. "Just imagine being able to take that sense and use it, all over your body, to know the position of those trying to kill you. That sense works far ahead of you...farther than your body is long. Not as impressive as my eyes, but still highly valuable."

He looked to his palms in thought before shaking his head and giving up. It was something he would never possess nor completely understand. "Impressive I guess."

She smiled and turned to keep swimming. "The only problem with that skill is that when I come up here, it doesn't work because there is no pressure. You remember from the last time you saw me home how uncomfortable things were...as you put it." He nodded again. "That is only the beginning. I have to wait for the pressure in the depths to stop squeezing my body before that sense works properly. It takes a while depending on how long I'm up here."

"While that fixes itself, I use my eyes and sometimes my nose, which is also good. It's kind of hard to smell prey because though anything that is injured doesn't last long in the depths. It'll be picked to the bone in no time and then you waste perfectly good energy getting there for a pathetic meal...if there is even anything left. That's why you have to rely more on your eyes and the pressure senses than your nose. If you happen to smell something, you have to act fast before something else does."

"Do you even get to eat real fish down there?" He butt in. "I remember you saying you ate...ugh...snow..."

She smirked, but her eyes were annoyed. "Snow is just dead animal parts that get pressed together on their way down. It's also the passing food that creatures have used and removed from their bodies so not all of it is good, but...you have to do what you can down there to survive." She looked ahead to the darkening waters they were still finding nothing in.

"I don't know if it's an ability or not, but most creatures have ways to take food and use it to keep full for a while as we wait for another meal to swim by. Movement is a waste of energy and when you don't know how long your next meal is going to take to find, you can't afford to go swimming everywhere." She pointed to her stomach. "I usually can't eat much either because the pressure squeezes my stomach into itself. That's usual too. So, even if I did find food, I wouldn't be able to take much with me. Not like here."

He smiled. "That alone is why I'm becoming less impressed with your home."

She smirked and shook her head at his gluttony. "Also, I can sort of make my tail change color to match the water above."

He blinked, brow raising. "You mean like me?" She nodded. He abruptly swam under her and found her colorings similar to the remaining light above them. The underside was a pale, dull pink and although she was always colorful, she had changed her scales. His eyes widened as he resumed his stance next to her. "How can you change color? I've never seen such a thing from you yet!"

"The algae that grows in my cave glows. My clan eat it when we don't want to take extensive time hunting out in open water and because of that, our tails glow. It's just a natural effect of eating luminescent algae. My parents have the same thing, so I'm betting their parents gave the ability to them too. It helps when I'm safe in my caves and I can find my way around the tunnels which have very little light...save for some algae in spots."

"As far as my tail goes, my fins are designed to make me look bigger than I actually am. They're really thin and not good for fast swimming, unlike yours, but they help with predators from a distance."

"You have more defenses than I thought." He marveled, taking her in again. "You can do everything I can and then some! It seems unfair."

She smirked. "I'm prey, not a predator. I need these things to survive."

"It's still amazing! I have my tail, but it only helps me swim after food quickly...or the occasional escape like we had in the human's world. That's really all it does. The colorings I was born with and my stripes will fade as I get older, but they have no other use. The best things I have aside my teeth are my sense of smell and eyesight. Although...it's not as good as yours is..." His lips pulled back to reveal jagged teeth and a finger tapped against them. "These are great though. I may only have one set at a time, but they regrow whenever I lose one. I've already replaced everything twice."

His suddenly attention was caught by something merely floating in the water a short ways ahead of them. "I think we may have something..." He hurriedly murmured. "What does it look like to you?"

She followed the arm he extended and her brow furrowed. "Whatever it is...it's not alive anymore. I don't know what it is though..."

His lips twitched. "Let's go find out."

She looked his way as he veered left and started in his usual hunting arch. She slowed and watched him stare at the object in question, remaining far enough away in case it was dangerous. He got close enough to touch it and bumped it with a hand, jutting away a pace just in case. The object didn't move and she swam right for it as he grasped it. He pulled it to his eyes and turned it, but there was no look of recognition on his face. It didn't seem to be from the ocean...

She scoffed when his jaws opened and he sunk his teeth into it. "Hey! You don't know whether that's food or not!" She admonished, looking between him and the item.

"You don't know that. Everything can go to your stomach if you try hard enough." He ignored the irritated look she gave him and held it out. "Want a bite? It's not very easy to eat though."

She took it and peered at it. She had no words to say what it was and describing it was hard. She bit down on it slowly. It was...hard to chew, as he said. There was a strange texture to it and an odd flavor. She spit it into the water and handed the rest back, which he promptly tried to keep eating. "I've eaten a lot of snow in my time, but I don't think I'd ever want to try eating any of that...thing."

"It's not so bad if you can break it into small pieces."

She looked on with disgust as he swallowed a chunk. "You probably shouldn't eat that. Who knows where it came from?"

"Probably the human world."

"And you're eating it?!"

He smiled. "Hey, it wouldn't be the first time..."

A hand covered her face. "Your curiosity is just...astounding, but in a bad way. Is that just something you got from your father or is it all you?"

He grinned at her irritation. "I think it's just me. I have a horrible habit of taste-testing things I find in the ocean that the humans dropped and fell into the depths. Sometimes it doesn't really agree with my stomach and some of what I've eaten feels strange. Sometimes I eat something and then later wonder why I did such a thing." His head shook. "I do it before I think of it."

All she could do was shake her head at such behavior. There were no words...other than 'idiot' maybe. "Let's head back." She mumbled, hand still covering her face. She didn't wait for him as she faced up and pushed with her tail. "I'm getting tired after so much wasted energy and we're very far away."

He had been having such a good time talking with her, he forgot about her injury. "Oh...yea..." He left the object where it was and followed her up for a while in silence. When the sun got brighter, he took that opportunity to spy glances at her tail to check on her fin.

The amount of chattiness that gave way to complete silence finally got her to look at him. She could see a more subdued look on his face and suddenly turned to watch him. She had seen that look too much in a day and knew what it meant. "Are you still thinking about it?" She asked, looking to him.

His lips tightened as he looked ahead. "Yea..." He mumbled, looking away from her. The sense of guilt would take a while to go away and only by spending such fun time with her had he forgotten for a short time.

She found his hand and lightly clasped his fingers. "It'll be alright. I'm just tired. It's been a very different day than what I'm used to. It doesn't even really hurt anymore. It looks worse than it is. Really..."

His eyes found hers when she gave his hand a squeeze. He managed a small smile and nodded, wanting to believe her. She was trying so hard to cheer him up after all...

She suddenly gave a gasp at the flash she saw and let go of his hand, taking off ahead of him. Attentive, confused eyes followed her as he sped up and easily found her checking out a fairly large fish. His eyes widened when he saw it across the water between them.

It was a barracuda. Or at least it was. It was writhing in what appeared to be dying thrashes. It was fairly young; maybe only the length of his forearm. Its scales flashed in the light they had gotten a little closer to.

She was hungry. She didn't think she would have been, but after swimming so much for so long, including all the excitement from last night...she was famished. She didn't know it till she smelled the blood leaking from the creature. She swam a little closer to him, eyes intent on their prey. "What is it?"

"A barracuda." He reported, eyes avidly on the fish. "Looks like its tail got bitten off by something. It's fairly young. Poor thing." His lips twitched. "We'll just have to put it out of its misery."

She smiled and burst forth without even waiting for the thing to finish its death throws like with the great white. She ignored Adrien's surprised cry as she grasped the barracuda on its top fins and bit it just above the eyes. It squirmed in her jaws, only succeeding in ripping its flesh open with her teeth.

He watched her pull a chunk of flesh from the fish who went limp at the attack and was still. She quickly swallowed the chunk and went for another. He jolted and neared her. "Hey no fair! I want some!"

She worked on the flesh in her mouth and passed the fish over, watching as he copied her. She swallowed the bite and waited for him to pass it back. "Looks like we found ourselves something of a feast. It's kind of small for both of us though. I'll be fine, but I don't know about you..." She gave him a thoughtful, slightly amused look. "Are you the kind of fish that likes to eat the bones too?"

He smirked and took a chunk of skin before passing it back to her.

 _Emotional_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=FBMPtZ6gANA_


	10. Farewell to a friend

The sun had passed three full lines across the sky. On the fourth rising of the moon, she figured she should head back. Not because she necessarily wanted to, but she just knew, and feared, the return pressure in her home. She had been above for so many moons and suns and had changed more than she thought, but now it was only going to be a detriment.

Her tail had healed enough for normal swimming and although the hole would always be there, there was no more blood anywhere. Even when she tested it yesterday by swimming to the farthest down she could tolerate, her fearsome escort at her side, it gave her no trouble.

It was time.

After that day of testing her limits and finding her good enough to travel, she had been unable to hide her sadness. It showed in her face and her eyes because Adrien commented on it. He asked questions, but she only requested to be left alone and disappeared into the space granted to her while she healed.

She rested on the bottom of the reef space and listened to the sounds of his clan coming and going in the water. She thought about her time with him and their conversations. She remembered his emotions and his smiles. In those few days, she was amazed at how much different he acted when she was around him the most of the day and night. When she barely knew him, she didn't think much of him...didn't care for him. She knew what she needed and trusted in her own clan, in her own home. But...after spending such a long time with him...having such good memories to think of...she was sad to leave him.

She had to go back. Her family probably thought she was dead by now. She had never spent so much time in any part of any clan's area before. She worried for their sorrow and wanted to reassure them that she was okay...more or less. But, leaving here...

She had seen much from him, had come to know much from him. And she had shown much from herself too. Things she had never done to those outside of her own clan.

The depths were a place of no light. One couldn't see past the length of their arm, past their own nose, in such a place. Expression was pointless and necessary. A smile wasn't something she cared to show. Not when fear and the unknown loomed outside of her cave. There was no reason to smile in a place like where she lived. But...amongst the reef...

Never had she been more conflicted to stay in a place that wasn't her own. She had adapted to the lack of pressure, the light, and the changes in sleep. Going back was going to be far more painful than she could ever imagine and knowing she had to face it to let her family know she was okay.

At one point, when she knew Adrien would be asleep, she swam to the surface during the night and stared out at the 'stars' again. She watched for a long time, ears partially in the waves and gills taking painful breaths. The stars calmed the agony for a while and she wanted to stay amongst them forever so she didn't have to worry about being in between two worlds right now.

The feeling of being pulled in two places at once ate at her so much that she returned to the reef space and scratched the walls to relieve her suffering. She stopped only when it marred the skin enough to draw blood and then fled to the nearby kelp field, tearing strips from the dirt. She covered her face with her hands and stifled a scream to relieve her pain, but only felt slightly better.

Never had she ever felt like this! She had always been so impatient to get home and see her family, to swim around the dull glow that was her caves and rest in the space she called her own. Up here though...up here, she also had a space to call her own. She had eaten great meals that could have been something her parents and siblings could have all eaten for the day. She had seen human sights she never would have thought possible and even poked her head above the waves! She saw stars and the moon clearly as opposed to being under water.

Because of Adrien.

She had known fear, beauty, excitement, thrill of the hunt, fun conversation, and smiles. All in the time of a few days and nights.

She hadn't wanted to face him for that final evening in the heat of her own, chaotic emotions. She didn't want to part feeling like this. It was always a long time before she came out of the depths to give a report and it would definitely take much longer to heal and that would reflect on when she'd see him next. Knowing that made her reluctance to leave greater than her wish to see and reassure her family. But, she had to let her family know what had kept her and why. She couldn't wait any longer. Part of her didn't want to. She was always a guest here; she would never be able to live amongst them and feel part of a clan with how she looked.

Even when the moon finished its journey across the sky, she wasn't in any better mood to go home, but she had to leave and didn't want for the sun to finish its pass over the sky again. Besides, once they got far down enough, light wouldn't get there anyway. It would be okay to leave with the light because Adrien would be next to her on the way down while she got used to the lower waters.

The fear of knowing how much she would be out of her own element had her panicked as much as her time in the trench. She wished more than before he would be able to see her home, but he couldn't. She didn't want him to experience the pain she would be forced to endure for so long. She wondered now, after having spent time up with the sun and the moon, how many suns and moons she took up healing and how many she would use up this time.

At length, when the moon was gone and the rays of the next sun were starting to brighten the reef, she exited her space and went for his. She entered his space silently, fingers lightly clasped together.

"I'm ready..."

She looked to the bottom of the space he used, finding the weapon resting there, although he had wrapped the sharp end so it wouldn't accidentally hit him. Even with his tough skin, it would still pierce through with no trouble.

She looked up when he slowly neared, seeing his eyes sad...sad as what she must feel right now. It was a strange sense of comfort to know that perhaps he felt just as she did for the same reasons. That he had spent so much time thinking about her going home and had the same thoughts.

She stared into his eyes. Such an interesting color. The light that managed to get into the space lit his hair that interesting hue and she stared at him as if memorizing everything about him.

At length, as if the quiet unnerved him, he forced a smile and briefly touched her arms before slowly going for the exit. She turned not even a pace later and followed him out. The morning light made her tail change the water red and her skin glowed white. He doubted he would probably ever see such a thing until she returned...provided it was during the day. He watched her tail move, seeing the hole there and was amazed that such a thing happened.

He was almost thankful for his idiocy those few days ago. It was a gift after the danger was gone. She was so interesting and he liked being around her. She wasn't a stoic fish with no emotions, who merely looked eery because her eyes and body glowed in the water. She was amazing and strong and brave and funny and fun to be with.

He was more than sad to see her go. Judging by the look she didn't bother to hide, she was as well.

"We should...leave now..." She murmured, not looking to him. She slowly swam for the wall and was over it without bothering to check for safety. She knew now, much more than before, that she was strong and he had helped her to see that. He had helped her come to realize that she may be prey, but sometimes prey was stronger than just waiting around for something to come eat it.

He followed in silence. He snuck peeks at her as they went down, but she never looked his way. He stared at her, wanting to speak, but feeling unable. It was perhaps the first time they had swam so far without saying a word.

He supposed that such sorrow was normal given at how close they had become in such a short time. Despite their differences, they acted well together. She went along with his need to explore places and he gave her the opportunity to see things she had never known. She wasn't too annoyed at him for dragging her along the whole time.

The darkness had more than crept up on them as they went down. The sun tried to follow as much as it could, as if wanting to go with her, but failing. She had almost numbed herself and her feelings as the pressure gave her something else to concentrate on, but once the darkness started becoming too much, it only reminded her that she had to part from him soon.

Before his eyes would be entirely useless and they were just over halfway through the lower waters, she abruptly paused and face him. He stopped and turned to her, worried something had happened to her, but her eyes were averted. She barely moved and her hair covered most of her features before a hand slowly moved it away from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" He queried, tail slowly pushing him closer. A hand moved and lightly touched an arm. "Is it the pressure?"

She quietly shook her head, unable to meet his eyes. "It's...not that..." She murmured. Her eyes closed before she looked at him with the full force of her feelings. All the sorrow, the longing for him, the wish to stay, the need to go home. Her lips twitched in an effort to smile, but found it useless once again.

His mouth opened as he took in her eyes and all she was showing him. At length, a hand rose and lightly rested on her shoulder. "I...I understand..." He looked to their tails and the remaining depths below. "I also wish you didn't have to go, but...your home is down there. That's where you were born and where you spend most of your time. Your family, your whole clan, is down there. I don't have the ability to say I'd miss mine as much as you must miss yours because I like to explore and my clan is never all together at once. Sometimes I don't see my father for an entire day when he goes in open water. That's just our clan...but, not yours."

His lips twitched. "As stupid as it will be of me to say this, I'm glad I took you up to the human's world. I would have never come to know you otherwise. I wish that...perhaps I could spare you the pain you will feel upon your return home, but we both know I would never last long in the deep waters."

"You wouldn't." She quietly agreed, nodding. "I could never let you come to my home for a report knowing that you may die because of it." Her lips twitched and she managed more of a smile at a sense of irony that assaulted her. "I used to think that...that your clan was just lazy. That you wouldn't, couldn't, adapt. I used to think you and everyone else in the middle and upper waters would never do what we had to do in the deep waters, but it's not like that. You can't...and I won't let you endanger yourself just for my sake."

Her hand moved and rested over the one still on her shoulder. "Y – you...have become...more important to me than I thought. You're not just one of the tiger clan; you're Adrien. You're funny and strong and curious. You smile a lot and it makes me smile. I have never felt so much for one creature aside my family. You will never be able to be called my family, but...I hope that I can call you my friend..."

He beamed and clutched her hand in both of his. He stared at the small fingers in his, more than touched at her words. "I would...very much...like that..." He managed, eyes squeezing shut. "Yes...I would. Thank you." He looked at her, finding a kind look on her face. "Perhaps I already thought of you as such and had never given it such a name." A smile crept over his face. "A friend. Yes. That sounds very nice..."

She withdrew her hands after a moment, feeling more than better at their conversation, and slowly kept descending. The short time was also nice to get used to feeling the pressure. Even with as slow as they went, now just enjoying each other's company in the silence, it was starting to get to her. It was pressing her skin and she was glad that she had hunted before this sun arrived.

The pain started making itself known on her face and what little he could see at such darkness made him want to touch her again to comfort her...but it was worthless. There was nothing he could do to help her aside from take her back up. But, she needed to see her family and get back to her normal life. He had been greedy to take her away for so long; too happy to wait while she healed and was happy for every motion of the sun across the sky that they were together.

Part of him wanted to feel horrible for all that he had made happen. He had injured her, kept her longer than she originally wanted, and made her go places she might not have wanted to see. Her injury forced her to stay up above, where below would only bring terrible feelings until she could stand them again. All of that was his fault, but her words kept the thoughts away with greater ease than before.

"I almost wish that I could borrow your weapon again for the rest of the journey home."

He looked her way as her voice suddenly cut across the water to him. He remembered it in his space in the reef; having put it the way it had been before he gave it to her. He suddenly wished he could loan it to her until she was well enough to see him again. "I should have brought it..." He mumbled, almost to himself.

She smiled and shook her head. "It's okay. I will manage the trip slowly and be extra careful." She gave an amused noise at the last time she used it. It felt like so long ago. "I didn't really tell you what happened to your weapon after I was attacked. It fell into the trench after it was shaken from my hands. I almost didn't want to go after it because the pressure in the trench is much worse than even the bottom of the ocean. The trench is so much farther down and the pressure is so much that almost nothing can live in it."

"I didn't know where the weapon could have gone, but I knew that if I didn't find it immediately, I would never see it again. I finally decided to just go and get it. That's when I was attacked a second time by that eel in the rocks. I paralyzed it and stabbed it in the darkness."

He was silent for only a breath merely because he was too overwhelmed to be able to speak. "Thank you..." He whispered, looking her way. A smile graced his face. "I'm sorry that you had to go through such danger for my sake, but I am grateful that you went down after that weapon. It's not just any random weapon. Father made that to give to mother when they were both youths. It was a memory of the first creature they had ever killed together. Another can always be made, but it's special to him. He passed it along to me after she was killed by humans. I...I actually asked for it as a memory of her."

She was unable to think past this information and the emotions he caused at his words. She was now glad that she underwent such danger to get such a precious item back for him. She had nothing like that because both of her parents were still alive and she was very loyal to them. She would be very sad if either of them were killed by anything.

"Killed by humans..." She quietly echoed. She looked his way. "But...you spend so much time around humans... Why would you if your mother was killed by them?"

He grinned. "I guess it's where I got my curiosity from..."

She smirked. "Well, I hope you control that while I'm not around so you stay safe until I can see you again during my next report. No more shallows." The wharf returned to her and soured her mood. "I...I don't ever...want you in such a dangerous time ever again."

"I promise that I'll stay safe until we can see each other again."

His words were honest and she knew he meant them. He would do all he could to honor those. She felt much better at just hearing them.

The darkness enclosed upon them so much that without her cave's algae, it was near impossible to see him. Since he let off no light and no light could make him glow, it was only by her tail that she could see him at all. She paused amongst the pressure, trying hard to keep the pain out of her voice. "I think we should stop here." She murmured, facing him. She rested a hand on his shoulder and looked to his face. "Thank you...for everything. Please have a safe journey home."

His fingers found hers and rested over her hand. "You as well princess. I owe you so much and I will never be able to repay you. I hope that my friendship is satisfactory for you for now."

She smiled and nodded, though he couldn't see her. She should have shifted at that, but she remained rooted in her spot.

He took that time to speak what was on his mind, since she had no wish to leave just yet. "I know that I should feel much worse for this but, I'm glad that we went to the shallows. I'm happy that we could spend those days and nights together. I'm glad to be able to find out about you and your home. Thank you for sharing your time and allowing me to change your mind about yourself and my clan. I hope your recovery is much faster than it may take."

"I hope to see you soon Adrien. Please stay safe." Without another word, she took off first in a slow, careful descent.

He remained where he was as he listened to her tail push the water around. He smelled her for as far down as he could before she was gone from all his senses. He stayed there for what felt like a long time, remembering her words of being able to 'feel' things in the water. He could see nothing and wouldn't know if something big was swimming right at him right now. The only reason that thought didn't scare him was because he smelled nothing nearby.

" _What_ _can't_ _see_ _can_ _feel_ _and_ _hear;_ _remember_ _that."_

He still did, even after all this time. He stared in the direction of his tail, mind curious. A thought grew at a quick pace until the urge to move was too much. He gave in and started swimming after her, trying to be as quiet as possible to keep from scaring her or alerting anything else he couldn't see and could hardly smell. He went as slow as he could and moved slower with each passing stroke of his powerful tail.

It hurt! It hurt so much and his insides felt like they were being crushed by the reef! It was like a huge rock had been rolled over him and left to squish him flat! His teeth grit as he tried to keep going, to push himself and see what it really felt like.

He didn't know how far down he had gone, but it was too much. He couldn't continue. Even when she had pinched his ear as hard as she could that one time did it hurt as much this! His tail quickly propelled him up through the water, hoping he was going up, without any concern about what was around him. He had to escape that pain! He sped through the water, feeling the pain slowly disappear as he hurried up. Only when the light slightly returned did he finally stop and look to the darkness with wide eyes.

Such a place was where she lived every day. Such a thing was what she had to get used to after every trip to his home. He was more surprised, knowing he must have a long ways to go before he could get to the bottom of the ocean. He didn't know the distance down, but if the pressure only kept getting worse, he knew he wouldn't survive a journey to her land. He would be attacked on the way to her cave, if his insides even lasted long enough to get there!

A sense of respect more than before overcame him and he was astounded by her...by his friend. She was so much more than amazing. She was incredible and he could now only imagine, even a little, of what she went through. He couldn't explain the feeling at that, but it was so much that it kept him in that space of water for a long time before he could move his tail in the direction of home.

 _Sad ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=a_Am4cHMBKM_


	11. Rolling of the earth

Pain.

So many heartbeats that thundered so horribly in her ears. So many breaths that hurt just to take shallowly, let alone able to do one good, deep breath. So much lack of movement if only to try and keep the feeling of being squeezed to death at bay.

The urge to escape, to go anywhere else, was only kept aside by the fact that movement would make things worse than they had been since she returned home and found refuge in her space amidst the darkness of the caves. She was stuck here and the stillness forced her to deal with things, to concentrate them away.

The agony had never been as unbearable as it was in these moments. Not in all the trips she made up until now. It almost made her question the worth of her time up above and often times the thought of 'what she would have done' invaded her mind whenever a sharp bout of needling pain would hit her veins and attack every nerve she had. So many times she wondered if it had all been worth it due to what she was entrenched in now. She was so far away and those fun memories were banished for the all-encompassing pain.

It was hard to think of his face, try as she might, in order to get past this. She attempted to picture the hunts they went on, the conversations they had, the playful talk. Sometimes, it helped her to pass the time when she could do nothing else and it eased her to a sense of calm when the pain momentarily subsided.

But, so many times it came back and she wondered if it had all been worth it.

Never did she think such agony was awaiting her on her return home. The smart part of her would have insisted that she give her report to Adrien and then go home, even though she would have missed anything that Gabriel would have to give her. It wasn't proper to just give information without getting something in return because she wanted her clan to be prepared should the tiger clan have seen or heard something going on above recently.

But...to wait for such necessary information and end up coming back to this...

It was all an unmanageable. Had she immediately returned home instead of recuperating, she would have bled the whole way down and been more accessible to predators. She would have left a trail right to her. Everything in the depths would have found her and made short work of what they could in her incapacitated state. She would probably have had to fight more than normal just to make it to the caves.

Had she given the details of the vents and swam back home, she would have never been able to see what stars really were. She would have never come to know Adrien and all his...interesting habits. She would have never been injured, but she wouldn't have gained trust and friendship out of her last trip.

It was such a hard, complicated thing to decide which was better...or worse. The pain was not worth coming back to, but now she looked forward to the time that she got to go back above to the tiger clan's reef home more than she ever had in her life.

Her lips tilted. Perhaps such constant twinges and stabs could be worth it in the end, once she adapted back to her own land and was able to eat food again...

The quiet and stillness of her never-ending seconds was abruptly and almost cruelly snatched away with a sudden, ominous rumbling and the water suddenly and harshly shifting her to the side of the cave wall.

Her eyes shot wide, body tensing in shock as the ground groaned all around her and a small rock landed on her back. She jerked and grit her teeth at the pain which assaulted every muscle and limb. Hands clawed for stability as the water moved in ways it never had, or ever would, in such depths. Her heart raced as the water moved her around and her tail did its best to stabilize her though the overwhelming pain it brought.

What was going on?!

She was unable to get her breathing to go back to normal as a few larger chunks of the reef landed on her. She cried out in pain as one hit low on her hip, the other landing on her shoulder. The rough rock scraped her skin and scales and she feared she would bleed before she managed to escape. She tried to feel for the cave, arms doing what they could to help move her out of the way.

The sounds of rocks falling on each other and screams of her clan echoed through the tunnels. She tried to swim as much as she could, feeling around for rocks that were already lining some of the passageways as the ground jerked again and careened her into the side. She went with it and immediately braced for the impact as her shouts joined others in the caves.

"Mama! Papa!" She screamed, breathing shallow and pained. It was a fight to keep her eyes open against the pain and the adrenaline going through her. She couldn't move as fast as she needed and she was going to end up exploding the loosely built-up toxins in the caves if she wasn't careful!

"Mama! Papa!"

"What's going on?!"

"Get out of the caves!"

That was her father!

"Papa!" She desperately cried, turning for the strength of his voice. She heard other voices of her clan agreeing despite what may be going on outside. Her mother joined them, her strong voice directing everyone to the exit and calling others from further inside to get out. "Mama! Help!"

"Marinette!"

She tried to swim as much as she could, but she was so exhausted and everything hurt too much to keep going. She was nowhere near as strong as she had to be to make it out of the caves and she had never been this scared...not even when she was up at the wharfs and the humans were above shooting at her!

"Marinette!"

"Mama! This way!" She called, trying to keep her voice strong so her mother could find her quickly.

A sudden, deep crash sounded not too far behind her and some of the water from its impact pushed her forward. It sounded much like a rock had landed on the floor of the caves, but this was no small rock! She shivered and wondered just how big of a chunk of the reef fell apart amidst the movement of the earth. Had she not moved when she did, would she still be stuck back there...cut off from everyone? In her state, there would be no way she could move it and help was leaving. She would have been on her own and in much worse than merely trying to readapt to the pressure of her home.

"Marinette!"

Hands suddenly grabbed hers and she gasped, before recognizing the feel of her mother. The dull glow of her mother's tail helped to light up the place along with hers. She could barely see her mother's panic and concern as the pair neared each other.

"Are you alright?! We have to get out of here!"

"What's happening?!"

"I don't know Marinette, but we can't think to it until we're safe! Let me help you."

It wasn't easy for her mother to turn around in the tunnel, let alone pull her out, but the two managed. The agonizing feel of her arm muscles stretching made her desperately want to pull free, but sheer force of will kept her fingers around her mother's. She didn't have time to let the pain take over her mind or she would be crushed under rocks or trapped in the caves from everyone! That thought alone helped her force her tail to move and help her mother.

The large opening of the cave was filled with chunks of the reef which had crashed down and broken things on their way. A lot of the algae had been torn up and some of the coral in bottom was buried under rock. The glow which had always existed as beacons to move with had mostly been extinguished and it was like being in open water again.

She could hear shouts and the louder voice of her father ordering everyone out. She could see the glow of his tail thrashing at the exit as other glows quickly passed by the opening of the cave.

"Marinette! Sabine! Hurry!"

A low rumble sounded throughout the entire cave, echoing around the tunnels behind them. Another, harsh jerk of the ground moved the water with it and the pair screamed as they were forcefully pushed aside. Sabine's grip tightened as she encouraged her poor daughter to move. Just as the trio passed the opening, signaling all out, a crack sounded above as another large chunk of rock fell to the bottom and landed with a heavy thud.

More, smaller chunks accompanied it and kept falling until enough of the entrance was effectively blocked from easy entry.

She turned to the worried, panicked murmurs of her clan, feeling her mother's grip tight around her arms. The few dozen huddled together as the shaking kept happening in lesser waves, sending dust from the caves out and jostling the sea floor up. It clogged their gills for easy breathing and made seeing more problematic.

A few, sudden screeches sounded as part of the clan quickly reported something harshly bumped into them, although they sounded more scared than injured. She listened to her father order everyone to remain within arm's distance and keep an eye out for any other predators which may be trying to flee the scene.

The last thing anyone needed was to be attacked during such a trying time right now!

The shaking happened for many more fearful heartbeats and panicked breaths until it finally stopped. Everyone grabbed hold of each other any time the water either tried to push them into the cave or away from the group.

Her parents kept everyone calm as silence returned to the area. They ordered everyone to make sure the other was okay and to check for injuries. Thankfully no one seemed hurt by neither rock nor predator. That was the last thing they needed was to attack something with big teeth who thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of a huge group of prey stranded outside safety.

Just as the water seemed to slow and stop, the rumbling finally over, strange smells came through the water. It made breathing a new chore and she was having enough trouble as it was without the ground already making it problematic on her poor gills! The rumbling had churned the water whenever it pushed them around and had brought the new issue right to them.

"What's that smell?"

"I feel sick..."

"Should we get back in the cave?"

"It's blocked! We can't get inside!"

"We're going to die out here!"

"That's enough, all of you!" Tom harshly interrupted. He swam just a little above the dully glowing group to look at them all as the water cleared a little. "I don't know what's going on, but we have to keep calm or we're all going to alert every predator that hasn't fled the area that we're all here. Sabine, Marinette, and I aren't going to let any of the clan die on us without it costing our own lives first."

"We're going to choke on whatever is in the water though..."

Her eyes closed in exhaustion, but she forced them open and straightened her shoulders. The look on her face was grim, but determined. "Father." She quietly announced. Her hands clenched against her mother's, tail still attempting to keep her from sinking to the ground below despite the pain it caused. "Let me go see what's going on. We can't stay outside where there is danger and the smell might kill us if we don't get inside the caves."

"Marinette, you're still too injured to move around freely." Sabine worriedly cut in.

She gave her mother a smile and patted an arm. "If I get help, I can still swim. I just need a guide or two. If predators passed us and didn't try to attack, we may be safe for a bit until the fear is gone from the area. We have to take advantage of that before things get fully back to normal."

She looked up and met the slightly glowing eyes of her father. "We need to have some of the clan unblock the entrance and get back inside. It's too dangerous out here, even with the possibility of the rocks falling inside the cave. The movement seems to have stopped and it hasn't started back up again. Whatever happened may be over and now we need to see just what is going on around us. Others will need to know as well in case this is happening in our land only and we need to find out all we can so we can inform them."

Tom nodded and looked to his clan. "I need three to help pull rocks away from the entrance so everyone can get back in. We'll stay out of the tunnels and keep to the great area for safety. Two need to go with Marinette to figure out where the smell is coming from and help her do whatever she needs before returning. I need four to keep look out as everyone else works to watch for predators who may take advantage in this time."

Voices changed in pitch and emotion as many chimed in to take on the jobs assigned to whoever would do them. Those who preferred to unblock the entrance swam to it and started feeling for the damage. With the algae broken and crushed, the necessary light was highly reduced. Four others swam slightly away from everyone and faced their backs to the cave entrance, eyes darting in every direction to check for glows amongst the water and smells other than what just came upon them.

"Come Marinette, we'll help you with whatever you need."

Two arms gently wrapped around each of hers and tugged her away from the hands of her mother. Sabine immediately let go with well wishes for a safe journey and turned to her husband to help where she could.

"We need to find out what is creating the smell and see what is going on in that area." She took a pained breath and pushed her tail to help move with her companions as the pair slowly tugged her away from the cave toward the smell. She sniffed as they moved, trying to figure out the strength amongst the water for the right way to go. Such things were difficult, but she pressed on and forced her body to listen to her commands.

If they failed right now, things wouldn't get any better and there was no time to waste.

The trio moved slowly, breathing labored at trying to take in untainted oxygen in the depths without getting poison through their gills. The swim led them from the cave toward the trench. The fact that it was so near an already unpleasant place made it even worse to go near. Thankfully, whatever was going on wasn't directly in the trench itself so that meant they didn't have to go down there...but it was really near it. The regular pressure of the deep was bad enough on her body; she wouldn't be able to tolerate any more lest she really die from her home trying to squeeze her into herself.

She knew that they had reached the area when she gagged in attempt to take a normal breath. The others made similar noises next to her and she promised the visit would be short, and that they would hurry.

Once she was able to get past the smell, one horrible thing became known: the drastic change in temperature as they neared the source of the smell. The heat quickly spiked and changed things so much that it hurt her skin to keep going. She knew such things had to be connected somehow and begged her helpers to not give up and keep going forward.

She didn't know what to expect; had no idea what they would stumble upon. She had been to so many places, so many locations within the ocean at various depths, had seen so many things her clan would never imagine. She had recently seen both stars and personally dealt with humans that she thought nothing could get her on edge anymore.

Seeing a plume of white clouds bubbling up from the ground sent stabs of terror through her.

The ground was cracked open like a piece of bone that had splintered from too much pressure. The jagged edges pushed up from the ground and something was leaking from it! They couldn't get too close to the area, but neither could anything else. The heat was so intense that it killed everything near it when it suddenly appeared. They could see in the horrible lighting the bodies of deadly predators now just floating lifelessly around...bent over and charred.

Every pulse of the white clouds that came out of the ground caused her to choke anew. The clouds seemed to be a release of something underneath, the toxic fumes thick and unable to get too high in the water due to the pressure. The trio watched the clouds attempt to float upward before slowly falling back to the ground...creeping like an octopus over the sea floor.

There was a sudden rumbling from the crack in front of them, much louder than the others earlier. A huge, sudden burst of cloud came out, much larger than any others, as the ground rolled again and the water pushed at them. The trio gave shouts of surprise and the pair tried to steady them all against the movement. There was choking for breath as the cloud expanded as it fell and they swam back a few paces to keep away from its toxicity.

It was only one good roll of the earth and then it was quiet again. The question to the noise and the moving water was finally solved, despite the fear and worry that it produced in everyone. The ground had opened up, was gushing something from under it, and the movement forced the edges to appear as they now were.

"M...Marinette...please..."

"I don't know...how much longer...I can hold out..."

"Please...let's return to your father. You've seen enough...right?"

Enough to feel a new sense of terror and worry for her clan. Seen enough to wonder what would happen to them with the boiling still coming from the ground and the temperature this high. This crack wasn't that far out of the range of her home and she worried that the temperatures would reach the caves.

They could be cooked alive inside!

They had to keep such a terrible thing from happening! Her clan was her family and she would let herself be eaten alive first before letting any harm come to a single one of them!

Her lips pressed together as she looked to the glowing eyes of her companions. She forced a smile and nodded. "Thank you for coming so far with me. You're right; I've seen enough. Let's head back and tell papa what happened."

It was quite the distance to escape the heat and the chill assaulted her bones once they finally found cold. This was not the first time she had been so close to such heat and as they neared the caves in safety, breathing easier with every stroke of their tales, memories of a similar nature assaulted her.

" _If_ _such_ _heat_ _continues,_ _or_ _gets_ _worse,_ _we_ _may_ _have_ _much_ _more_ _trouble_ _finding_ _food."_

" _The_ _gases_ _from_ _the_ _vents_ _aren't_ _too_ _horrible_ _for_ _you,_ _are_ _they?"_

" _It's just a little difficult to be so close for so long right now."_

" _Something notable seems to be happening because of this and we want to be prepared should it occur."_

This was so like Nathaniel's issue with the vents and she was more than troubled. Something in the back of her mind had her so preoccupied that she kept forgetting to move her tail and help the others on their way to the caves. The earlier pain which had kept her from moving even a finger was pushed aside for this problem on her mind.

If the two things were connected, then something very big was going on.

Nathaniel's clan was at the Mariana Trench up north. It wasn't a short swim by any means and she had been there many times to know this. If the two things had spanned such a distance, she feared much more things were going to happen. But...a Tench was born to worry after all...

She wanted to hope that whatever was going on was subsiding and that nothing more would occur from it. Perhaps the worst was over? She knew from dealing with the humans at the wharf that such big things happened from absolutely nothing and then they were just...over. Nothing else afterward happened.

Maybe this was just an isolated incident?

Maybe, Nathaniel's issue was something they should have worried more about because this issue was what they were supposed to prepare for.

Perhaps the rise in temperatures was to tell them that the ground was unstable and the crack was its way of making things right again?

There were too many questions without answers. She kept telling herself that, despite the horrible fumes leeching through the water, things would get better from here on out. Perhaps the worst was over. Now that they had been met with this disaster, they could work together and get past it much easier because they had something to work against. Not like Nathaniel's problem, which had no answer and only a few clues which led nowhere. This crack in the ground gave her real things to fight against and save her clan.

Maybe it was good that they had found it like they did...

A short time after heading back, they stopped at the cave to find it blocked, but void of any other Tench in the area. She reached a hand out and felt around for the opening, only to find a very small hole at the top.

"Hey! What gives?!"

"I thought they opened it back up...where is everyone? Heeeey! Let us in!"

Her teeth grit at the amount of paranoia from her helpers. They were going to draw in every predator that was still lurking around with that amount of noise!

"Is that Marinette's group?"

Her head jerked up, eyes finding a dull glow peering through the small hole at the top. "We're back. Please let us in." There were muffled noises before grunts and groans sounded on the other side. One of the huge rocks that barred their way was moved and the trio squeezed through.

Sabine and Tom were there in a second, taking hold of her arms to steady her as the pair let go of her. Sabine searched her daughter's face, flinching at the smell still attached to her hair. "What happened out there? Are you alright?"

She smiled and placed a hand on her mother's shoulder. "We're back safe and sound. I found the source of what happened and it's causing the smell."

"We blocked the cave to keep most of it out." Tom explained. "It seems to help a lot, although it keeps us confined to the caves."

She nodded. "A smart move papa." She looked to the dull glows of her clan idly moving rocks out of the way in search of food. Her lips tightened as she realized how hard it would be, now more than ever, to find food. If the smell kept up like this and they were forced to remain in the tunnels, the algae could very well be entirely eaten and that was a different set of trouble that she didn't want to consider right now.

"Marinette?"

She jerked to her mother's questioning tone and shook her head to concentrate. She went into great detail about the clouds, the crack in the ground, the smell, the heat, and the rumble they experienced. She explained how the smell tried to rise, but that the pressure kept it from getting too far and thus it was moving over the ground in all directions...especially to the cave.

She added her thoughts about Nathaniel's earlier visit and how she just knew everything was connected. "I don't think we were worried enough, but I think now that the worst is upon us, we can find a clear way to be safe." She finished, sending out those words more for the clan that had been listening than to calm her parents.

"I want to hope that this is now over too." Tom quietly agreed. His hand briefly squeezed his daughter's arm amidst his emotions. "We now must deal with something we've never seen before and we have to be quick. Many of the rocks from the top of the cave have hit the algae below and our food source has been somewhat killed off. Some have reported that the tunnels have also been blocked near the beginning, so we're going to have to begin the process of opening things back up with even less light."

"We know what we need to do." Sabine encouraged, putting her free hand on Tom's arm. "We're strong as a team and this clan is a good one. We'll get things fixed in no time."

There was a beat of silence. A thought occurred to her, but not a good one. It was vital though, even if she was still in too much pain yet. Something she knew she needed to do.

"I'll need to inform the others..."

"You're still too hurt from coming back to the depths Marinette. Please give it a little more time."

Her head slowly shook. "The smells aren't going to help me mama and we can't afford to wait much more. We've already waited too long and look what happened. I need to head up now while the smell is driving most of the creatures around here away. If I swim slowly, I'll get better once the pressure lessens. If the clouds aren't going up too high, the poison may not get to the lower waters and that'll help a lot. I'll adjust the distance once I get to the lower waters and the pressure is off."

"She's right in that she has to go." Tom agreed. He didn't sound happy about it, but definitely resigned to the task. "We need to let others know what just happened in case it affects them too. The water moved in ways it never has and that is big. The water doesn't flow down here like it does in the upper and middle waters. I worry what that movement may be doing further up."

Sabine suddenly hugged her daughter, not caring that she was squeezing too tightly. "Last time you were gone for so long I worried that you had finally died from your responsibilities. I want you to take extra care of yourself until you feel better, understand?"

She patted her mother's back and pulled away with a smile. The weight of this job squeezed her heart and made her fearful in a new way, but it had to be done. Other clans relied on their system of information to keep from being wiped out. If such poison ever managed to make it to the area and kill off other creatures that were food for others, clans could start to starve to death.

Never had the responsibilities of what she always did weigh on her more. The annoying and lengthy swimming she did all the time suddenly became much more important than she previously thought.

"I'll head up to the tiger clan and see what changes have happened to them. Please send my sibling up north when possible to inform Nathaniel's clan of what happened." She slowly pulled away from their embrace and moved for the opening with difficulty. "I'll be as careful as I can. If I need to, I'll borrow Adrien's weapon again for the trip home."

"We'll need to keep the rock blocked for the smell until it's gone Marinette. Just know that for whenever you get back."

She nodded and listened as the small group pushed the rock aside enough for her to get out. She shimmied through and gave her thanks before slowly heading out. Leaving her clan yet again had her heart feeling heavy, but she knew she had to do this for everyone's sake.

The gas assaulted her gills once she was clear of the opening and she gagged at it before shaking her head and strengthening her determination. Others were counting on her; she had to do this!

Nails dug into her hands as she started up as best she could. Her body was still too beat up to sense anything, but the smells had caused pretty much everything to flee the area. She didn't encounter one thing as she passed through the depths. The one time she did bump into anything, it didn't move...proclaiming it dead from poisoning.

It was a small fish, much smaller than her...barely the length of half her arm. She still feared what would happen to her clan if such a tiny thing had died from the stuff in the water. If they swam outside the cave too much, would such a thing happen to them too? She left the creature where it was, too worried about it infecting her if she tried to eat it.

As she figured, the lesser depths helped a lot with the pressure on her body. It didn't take away all that pain, but it lessened it a great deal. It was enough to help her move a little more with less stabs of agony. She made sure to go as slow as possible through the blackness. Her tail toxins weren't back to normal by any means and although there was a little still available to use, it wasn't enough to do the job she expected it to. They wouldn't be considered useful until she was able to move freely and the blood pumped in her veins like it should.

She got to the highest point in the lower depths and found that the surface was getting sunlight right now. The light helped her to see things in the distance, but it also made her start glowing as well and needlessly attracting attention. Not a good time to lose the power of her tail.

Wariness went through her as she kept one eye in all directions and the other above for the tiger clan. She couldn't afford to slip up for a heartbeat right now!

 _Emotional ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=Nzl7Nv6-9sk_

 _Dramatic_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=Yx_O0LMoawc_


	12. Report of dire urgency

She had forgotten how bright the light was until she found that the sun was nowhere near being done in its trail across the sky. She could see it when she got close enough to notice it above the waves. She squinted when she looked at it, too accustomed to the darkness and covered her eyes with her hands as she swam on.

She had also forgotten how the brilliance of her tail alerted others until two of the tiger shark clan were almost upon her at her arrival.

They stopped when they recognized her and demanded to know why she was back so soon. The pair looked skittish and worried, which she didn't know why. She wondered if the trouble down below had caused problems this high up and tried not to show how scared she was that she followed the issue up here.

Or had brought it with her.

At the mere mention of needing to report something of dire urgency, the pair took off in the direction of Gabriel. She didn't know whether to be pleased or concerned that she needn't explain herself.

She found him with a small group of other clan members, but they stopped and looked her way when she approached. Gabriel looked to them and with a few words, sent them scattering for some privacy.

"Marinette..." He tiredly greeting, face showing his exhaustion. "I didn't think that I'd see you so soon after your return to the depths, but I'm happy you're back right now."

She sighed. "I'm here on serious matters Gabriel."

"If you're here about what I think you're here for, your information will only help in easing the worry of my clan."

She nodded, face serious. She went into great detail on the shaking noises of the ground, the moving waters which should never happen that far below, the smell great enough to kill the small creatures they used for food, the plumes of white death, and the destruction it had caused her home. Even the most random details, like her home collapsing, she added in.

"It seems that you've already had something like this going on..." She surmised, eyes searching the lines of his face.

Gabriel nodded and went into what had happened since the start of her trouble. He explained how some of his clan were out in the waters for food and heard the noises, but much quieter than she experienced because they were so far down. The waters grew choppier than usual and the noises brought some of the caves down in small patches. No one was gravely injured, but everyone in the clan was scared that something big was going on.

"I remembered back to your other report about the vents at the northern trench and wondered if such things were connected. I could only hope that you would come with news of what was going on. I fear that more things will happen with it being almost directly below us."

"I want to hope that the worst is now over, even if my clan is doing their best to keep the smell from reaching the caves and trying to keep our food sources from dying. That is exactly what Nathaniel explained to us during his last report. We've heard nothing since then, but my sibling is going to head up north as soon as possible for more news on their lives along with what happened to us."

"In the meantime, I sent out others to search our home for damage or other such things that may be happening that far away. Most of them have returned, but as you know our ruling range is wide if not deep." Gabriel explained.

She nodded and suddenly looked around. "Is...Adrien among the search team?"

Gabriel's lips twitched as he watched her. "He is. I sent him out first to get information for me. He's one of the fastest swimmers and his memory is better than most. He hasn't returned yet, but it hasn't been long since his leave."

She felt a little sad that he was gone and that she may miss him on this trip. But, she wasn't here to spend time with him; she had important matters to discuss.

She tried to squash the small sadness in her heart for the emergency at hand.

A hand on her shoulder drew her attention to Gabriel's kind features. "You look ill from your troubles Marinette. Please, take to your place in the caves and rest. I know that the pressure changes have been harsh on you and I can only surmise that the troubles you described have made things worse on you. I know you don't like to take too much time after your reports because of the healing time after you return, but...perhaps just this once shall suffice."

She looked to the caves nearby and idly nodded. He was right on so many counts and she should heed his advice. She wasn't over the toxins from the depths and the pressure had her too physically ill to be able to move quickly. Without her tail to support her, she would possibly be attacked with no way to fight back. Even if she had a weapon, her arms felt too labored after the distance. She had forced herself to move when all she wanted to do was sink to the bottom and rest for many suns and moons.

"Perhaps...just a little bit." She quietly agreed, bashfully looking away. Gabriel's hand moved as she twisted away. "I remember the way well."

"The caves have been cleared out, so you should have no trouble."

She nodded and bid him goodbye for now as she headed for one of the holes. She found the space she had used not that long ago and marveled at how she was doing so again. It was amazing when she considered that only a few trips ago, she couldn't stomach being around the tiger clan or the lack of pressure. How she had changed with only a few instances.

She was grateful for such.

01010

Despite the light of day, she fell asleep without difficulty. Tiredness and the aches had taken her over so much and she gave into them just this once. She didn't know how long it was till she slept, but it was still light out when her ears picked up noises coming her way. She was so tired and sluggish that she didn't react until the noises were practically upon her.

"You're back!"

She gasped in panic and jolted to when a presence and its smells became known. She cried out at being rudely awakened and would have released her toxins, but they hadn't built up enough yet to be of any use.

"It's okay Marinette. It's me!"

A hand grasped her arm as she scrubbed her face. The voice bled into her ears, into her memory, and one word made itself known to her.

"Adrien?"

He smiled and moved back a little when she made to get off the cave floor. "Father told me you had come back and why." His face quickly turned concerned as he took her in again. "You still look horrible Marinette. I'm so sorry that you're still in pain after your extended time up here. It's because of me that you're still not better and adjusted to your home in the depths."

She held a hand out to stop his tirade of horrible things concerning himself. "I'm not concerned about that in the slightest, so please stop worrying yourself over it for my behalf." She looked to him and gave a tired smile, unable to do more in the moment. "It's good to see you again my friend."

The smile he returned was as bright as the sun, but even better. A sense of glee filled his chest and expanded. He relished the feeling and neared her a little. "I couldn't agree more friend..."

She floated up and tested her muscles, finding them sore, but a little better. The total lack of pressure up above had put her back to where she had been before. It didn't mean such things would stay away when she went back home, but for now, she could at least swim without intense pain.

"Did your father explain everything to you?"

He nodded. "I learned much. You were very brave to withstand such a horrible time. I haven't given my report of my own search to father." A hand pointed to the exit of her space. "We should go and you both can listen at the same time."

She nodded and he let her pass for the way out. She swam around him slowly, testing her abilities, and used her hands to help propel her against the rough walls. She didn't even get her tail all the way into the tunnel when a sound came to her ears. It was quiet, but something she knew she would remember for a long time to come. She gasped and then stilled down to her heartbeat as she desperately listened for more. She ignored Adrien's questions as she tried to push her senses out, but it was difficult with her body somewhat refusing to listen to her.

The quiet rumbling happened again. It was very ominous and foretold things she didn't want to know about...mostly because she had already experienced them.

Her breathing quickly grew choppy and sent stabs of pain through her chest from her injuries. "We...we have...to get out!" She breathed, eyes flying wide. She turned to look Adrien's way, seeing his concern and confusion heighten at her abrupt change in actions. Her hand lashed out, grabbing his wrist. "Hurry Adrien!"

There was a rumbling within the coral walls itself. Another sound she had heard recently, one that frightened her as much as seeing the ground splinter upward. Her body shook in terror, hand tugging his. "Faster!" She suddenly screeched. "We have to get out!"

Her panic touched him through the water, especially when that sound happened again. A horrible cracking noise ran through the water, almost as fast as her terror had. His body reacted before his mind could figure out what to do first. "Go!" His arms shoved on her back and pushed her to the tunnel, tail bursting to speed. He ignored her screams of his name and the urging as she tried to make sure he was out as well.

Seconds after she cleared the space she had been using, a huge amount of rocks came down and completely covered everything.

She screamed in pain at what covered part of her fins before she was able to fully clear the space. She writhed at the sensations it caused on her, fingers scraping the mass amount of rock and injuring her hands. She could smell blood in the water...coming from her.

"Adrien!" She screamed, twisting and pounding on the rock. "No!"

No! This wasn't happening! He was cut off from the outside! He was shark-kin; one who needed to move to breathe! He was unlike her, who could pull the air she needed from what was around her into her gills. She didn't have the need to move to get air with the place she lived in.

Unlike him.

She shouted his name, shouted for help. She called for Gabriel, for anyone that was in the area. The rumbling didn't come back, but now she was faced with a much more horrible problem. Adrien needed space to breathe in and she was perhaps the only one to get him out. The space she had been resting in had no other means of escape. He was trapped with whatever oxygen was in there now and the rocks covered so much space, he wouldn't be able to pull fresh air into his gills soon.

No one came in the moments of her shouting and she wondered if they had fled the area for the safety of open waters. The noise had already scared many; she bet Gabriel must have moved them somewhere safer while this passed. Whatever was the case, this meant she was now alone. She was as trapped as he was, but she would survive the pain. He, on the other hand, could very well die if she didn't do something immediately.

"Hold on Adrien! I'll get you out of there!"

She forced panic to turn to resolve and dug deep to find the strength she knew was hidden inside her. She may be a little Tench, a bottom feeder as many called her, but she was the only one to save his life right now.

The plan was to move the rocks and get him out. She didn't know where she'd put them since they might very well cover up the exit again, but once they got a grasp at the top, maybe they could get them inside the space and let him out. She didn't have a whole lot of space surrounding her, but all she needed was a hand space to work with. If he could pull some of the rocks into the space, he could squeeze around them and hopefully not take too much damage to his skin.

The description of it, however, was much easier than doing it.

"If you can hear me Adrien, pull the rocks in from your side if you can!"

"I can hear you Marinette. I'll do my best!" Came the muffled return.

It was a comfort to hear her voice. The panic he felt in knowing he was holed in here in the black lessened to know she was still so near him. He reached out and felt around the new wall to find any starting point he could work with. His tail brushed up against something flimsy and soft and a hand reached down. He felt a frail flap of useless fin and lamented that she was injured again. This may not be due to him, but she was focusing on him more than herself again.

His heart twisted at how she seemed to be marred with the latest visits up here and almost wished that she didn't have to come up here, if only so she'd stay safe. He didn't want anything to happen to her, and she may very well end up staying here again in order to heal...making things worse once she headed back home. His teeth clenched in those agonizing thoughts. He chided himself for his foolishness, even though none of this was his fault this time.

It was difficult to get the bigger rocks to the bottom of the space. It wasn't large enough for him to move around in without scraping his skin on the walls, and the rocks were also big and very heavy. He wasn't built for pushing or carrying things and the extra energy taxed him. Combined with the close quarters of being unable to easily swim around in, what became smaller with every large rock, and his strength quickly waned.

The dust he was moving around wasn't helping either.

"Hang on Adrien...I'll get you out of there...just hang on..." She repeatedly mumbled, hardened eyes focused on the rocks binding her to the spot.

The pain had all but disappeared as the task loomed before her. The weight of the rocks with her fragile bones proved quite problematic and more difficult than she imagined. The angle her tail was pinned at also made it hard. She had to bend at an extremely painful angle to get to the rocks, but she couldn't go any other direction to work on the obstruction.

Two rocks of sizable amount managed to get moved from her side. She considered it something of a victory and the feel of such an accomplishment spurred her on. She cleared a gap, enough to stick her hand through.

"Adrien!" She called, twisting and barely sticking her arm up to the hole. "Grab my hand to let me know you're still okay!"

"M...Marinette..." Slow hands fumbled past the rocks and touched hers. A plume of dust came with it."It...it's getting...hard to breathe..."

Her determination flared. "We're getting there. Can you pull any of the rocks inside on your end?"

He tried to do as she asked, forcing himself to pull what he could from the jerky movements of his tail. That little hole she had created gave him enough of one last burst of strength and a good sized rock fell from the attempt.

They both gave a happy cry, resoluteness surging forth. She twisted as much as possible, hoping her poor back didn't break from this, as she grabbed hold of the rocks. "I'll try pushing from this side; you pull!"

He tried to take as deep a breath as possible around the dust and stuck his fingers through the enlarged hole. On her command, he used every reservoir of power he ever knew to possess and pulled it into the space with power of his tail.

"Come on..." She quietly pleaded, using everything she had. "Come on!"

There was a crack of rock moving sluggishly against itself before the whole thing suddenly gave and fell into the space. She quickly grabbed hold of the reef walls and pulled, finally freeing her tail...though not without an abrupt, sharp twinge of pain. She ignored it as she twirled as best she could and looked to Adrien, finding him slightly curled much in the same way dying fish did.

She thrashed forward, cringing at the pain, but grabbed his hand. "Let's go! Hurry!" She turned as well as she could in the confined space and grabbed the walls to help her move. She ignored the rubble scraping her scales and hoped she didn't do the same to him. She mentally commanded her tail to obey her as she went past the tunnels as fast as possible, hoping that would help the water through his gills.

Sunlight had never been a more beautiful sight. She would never call it bad ever again. The second she burst out of the reef, she ordered Adrien to swim as fast as he could up.

He headed up into open water above the reef walls and left her below. The explosion of air to his body was a rush and he shook his head against it. He swam in a few circles as fast as possible to get the feeling of life into his body before swimming back down to her to check on her new injury.

The first thing he noticed the dirt all over her pale skin. He took in the cut to her tail that had split where the bullet wound used to be and gave a despairing cry. When he clutched her hands, he noticed them slightly bleeding.

His eyes widened, pupils flaring as the ever-enticing smell entered his nose. It was a well-known rush, but one he tried to guard himself from. He grabbed her wrist and twisted, already tugging her in the direction of the kelp fields. "Come. We need to get you bandaged up."

He wasted no time in wrapping her hands entirely to stop the bleeding, her fins receiving similar treatment. She was effectively rendered unable to move this time until the bleeding stopped and he thus pulled her back to the reefs once she was in no further danger of spreading blood through the area.

The last thing they needed in such a crisis, was the clan to smell blood in the water.

They stayed within the reef walls, the area deserted for only a little longer before Gabriel and the clan rushed back in. He took one look at them and stopped in front. "Are you alright? You've been injured again!"

She smiled at Gabriel, letting him grasp her wrist and openly stare at the coverings on her tail. "Adrien was quick to help me Gabriel. I'm in no further danger."

Gabriel sighed and looked away. "You've been in danger far too many number of times for my liking Marinette. I should feel so lucky that your family allows you back up here to do your duties. We rely heavily on your information."

"That is why I came up, despite what has been going on. It's okay Gabriel, please don't worry yourself for my benefit."

"I'll leave that up to my son in my stead." Sharp eyes landed on subdued green, pinning him where he was. "You're to care for this female that saved your life a second time. Your foolishness knows no bounds and you're lucky to be alive right now!"

"Actually Gabriel, I like to think of it that I'M lucky to be alive." Kind blue turned to Adrien, smile widening. "If you hadn't come to me when you did, that rockfall would have buried me inside the reef. I would never have been able to move all those rocks by myself. Thank you."

He exhaled a quick breath, jaw clenching. His hands gently took her shoulders, trying not to grip her too harshly. "You have nothing to thank me for and my father is correct. I'll do everything in my power to get you better as soon as possible." His eyes drifted down to her tail. The beautiful design looked ugly with so much wrapping around it. "Although...I fear that this time around won't be as quick as a mere bullet hole..."

Her head bowed at that. When she attempted to pull it out from under the rocks, one of the jagged reef stone had cut a line into her tail, effectively separating some the mass from itself. She'd still be able to swim once it healed up, but that might be a few more days than the last time she was forced to stay.

"You're welcome for as long as you need Marinette. It seems that something wishes to keep you here next to my foolish son for as long as possible before you head back home."

Adrien smiled, but it soon wiped clean. Despite the happiness at knowing she'd be around again, it was because of horrible things that kept happening to her. That was no reason to smile.

"And before she does, I must give my report of my findings father. I went to get her to tell you both at the same time. Now that all three of us are together, I'd like to begin."

Compared to her report, his was very unexciting. That was perhaps the best thing though. After what the pair had just gone through, they didn't need to worry about anything else right now! High waves and no food were nothing to broken walls of his home that now needed to be cleaned out.

"Thank you Adrien. Your work has helped the clan to calm itself amidst the chaos." Gabriel turned her way. "The sun is almost done in its journey across the sky. I suggest that for at least two more suns, you stay and heal. I need to get the remaining reports from those who are still not back yet and hope that they are as uneventful as Adrien's. I would prefer that kind of news after the day we've had."

She sighed and looked to the caves. She didn't want to stay in them again in case something else happened. "If it's alright with you Gabriel, I'd like to stay out of the reef for now. Perhaps the kelp fields would be a sufficient hiding spot for the moon's passing... It will also be good to have the bandages nearby for changing when necessary."

Gabriel nodded and looked to his son. "You will attend to her every need. Anything that she asks is an order to you. Be grateful to the one who saved you again."

Adrien turned her way, smile caring. "Believe me father. I already am..."

Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder. "Should something change, I'll send someone to come get you. Otherwise, stay in the kelp fields and rest. You deserve it."

A soft hand on her wrist had her eyes bouncing away from Gabriel. "Come Marinette...let me help you..."

She let his powerful tail carefully guide her to their new spot for however long it needed to be. The kelp field stood tall and it tickled her arms as they swam around the stalks. Light tried to find them amongst the massive strands reaching for the surface, but the kelp was so wide that it muddied the water and kept too much light from getting to the dirt below.

"Do you want to sleep on the ground? I can pull some of the kelp off and make a place more comfortable if you wish. It'll be better than the reef caves, that's for sure."

She smiled at him when they stopped. "You're very kind Adrien. I admit that I am very tired after the ordeal and my journey. I'm not fully healed from the last trip home, but coming up here has helped."

His hands suddenly grasped her shoulders, getting a gasp from her and wide eyes. She stared at him in confusion, seeing his eyes search hers. She found sadness amongst his face and wondered how much longer he would hold that time at the wharf against himself.

She pulled an arm away and carefully patted his shoulder. "You do enough for me and I'm grateful for your friendship and caring. Never could anyone do such as you have. Thank you for your help Adrien."

He looked away, sadness threatening to crush his chest much like the waters of her home. "I'll do everything in my power to help you heal as fast as possible. I don't want such a thing to happen to you when you return home. It sounds like you'll already have enough to deal with if the gas hasn't stopped by then."

She nodded and looked around. The swim up, the rocks, the latest injury, and the fear all crashed through her in this safe place. "I'm tired..." She murmured, allowing herself to sink a little. She touched the floating strands with her tail on the way down and their touch calmed her a little. Her eyes drooped as she looked up to find him swimming down with her. "Please keep watch. I'd very much like to sleep and heal for a while..."

He nodded, face too serious. "Leave it to me Marinette. You're perfectly safe when I'm around."

She gave him a soft smile before closing her eyes. She was almost half asleep as she felt him move the water around her and heard his tail push him away.

 _Emotional_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=0c0FBSUd1Hk_

 _Dramatic_ _/_ _scary_ _ambiance_ _music:_ _youtube_ _com/watch?v=_u0vyU1eAzA_

 _kelp_ _field:_ _fuelfreedom_ _org/wp-content/uploads/kelp_ _jpg_


	13. Across the Pacific

The moon passed a full cycle across the sky and he never once stopped swimming. Any tiredness was pushed aside as he kept every sense out for anything threatening. He wouldn't forgive any kind of creature with teeth to enter this sacred space right now.

Not while his savior slept.

Any time he let her face enter his mind or her name cross his lips, his chest expanded with so many feelings he couldn't name. They filled his body and wouldn't let him sit still. The energy that these emotions gave him kept him going and a sense of fierce protectiveness, more than any he had for his clan, filled him.

Nothing would happen to her while he was alive to draw breath. She had seen to it twice now that he would live to see another sun and he would gladly take a bite from a hungry great white attack if only it would ensure her safety.

There were only a few times when he swam down to her exact spot to check on her well-being. She was asleep the entire time and made no sense of knowing he was nearby. This could mean that she was so exhausted and unable to respond to his presence, but he preferred to think it was because that she trusted him so much and continued to sleep because she knew he was near.

When the first rays of sun managed to get to the floor of the kelp beds, he halted his patrol and went back to down to look at her again. Ever since the wharf he had seen her differently, but now, after this latest brush with death, he would never change this current view of her.

She looked so peaceful and beautiful. She was fragile to look at, but that was the deception. The strength she showed rivaled any in his clan's...in most of the shark clans he knew of. She could probably go up against a great white if the situation called for it and come out on top. She was better than so many he had ever met because of who she was.

He tried to swim around her as slow as possible and not disturb the waters around her. After a few passes, his hands extended on their own to touch her. He restrained himself before his hard flesh touched delicate skin, not wanting to wake her. He even had to grasp his wrist in order to keep the urge away, but it was hard. The immense feeling toward this Tench fish who had saved his life twice now was drawing him near her and he didn't want to be away from her.

She was admirable, honorable, brave, intense, amazing... He didn't know enough words to describe her, let alone do her justice. She had become so much to him in such a short amount of time and to hear her call him friend was a great honor. He would never tire of the word from her lips and he hoped she would call him such time and time again.

At one point, he risked immobility and the resulting lack of oxygen to sink closer and stare at the water moving strands of her hair around during her slumber. His fingers finally stole the opportunity to reach out and gently move them away from her cheeks. He took in the black and red color; finding the contrast nice.

He took in the locks, liking the lack of color. It was one of the many representations of where she lived, of who she was because of the harsh climate she had grown up in. While his hair was the color of the sun because he lived near it, her hair was the absence of light.

As the light from the sun reached stronger and stronger to the bottom, it played with the paleness of her cheeks and neck. The spots moved with the swaying of the kelp strands and it fascinated him. The glow she gave off because of it, unbeknownst to her in her sleep...perhaps always so, was magical.

His eyes strayed down her figure to the tail that twitched only a little at times. Any time it did and caught the sun spots, it would gleam and turn a brilliant red. It was ironic how he would never harm her and yet she was his favorite color: blood.

He looked to the side fins idly swaying in the water. He carefully touched one, making very sure not to disturb her, and felt the thinness of it in his fingers.

" _I have the fins at my sides, but they don't work and they're more to make me seem bigger when prey approach from a distance."_

He never thought he would be so consumed with her like he was. He took her in as if just seeing her for the first time. All the memories of her in the span of a few visits played through him amidst the quiet sway of the water above. She was going to be his favorite princess forever, more-so than before, until the end of his days. No one could ever come close to her in any attribute, no matter what they did.

It was during this brazen attempt to be near and touch her, to think only of her and let his guard down, that he allowed something to near without his knowledge. It was his foolishness that allowed it to happen and the second the noise broke past his thoughts, he was angry more at himself than the one who dared trespass into this domain.

The second he was aware of the intruder, he left her as quietly as possible, trying not to swish the water around her too much, until he was sure she wouldn't be moved because of it. After that, his tail propelled him through the water with the speed he used when catching an injured fish he was ready to tear apart.

His hands extended first with the intent to hurt, his teeth bared and eyes flashing his rage. No one would come near her! He darted around the strands and grabbed hold of hard, leathery flesh before realizing it was one of his own. It took the scent of fear through the water and the scared words of his clan to pierce the haze and get his attention. He gruffly apologized, feelingly only slightly guilty for attacking one of his own, but shot back that no one was to wake the princess. She was deeply asleep, which meant she was still highly injured from the recent issues she had faced.

"I'm sorry for coming here so suddenly Adrien, but your father has been informed that the bottle-nose and white-sided clans have been seen in our areas. It was in a report from one your that father sent out during the high waves. They're making their way here and may already be here by now. Your father thought that you would want to see them and hear what they had to say about any troubles farther away above the waters. Perhaps Marinette too..."

He looked to the ground below, heart conflicted.

The bottle-nose and white-sided clans... They were known to give good information because their swimming space was wide and their interactions with humans well-known. They were smarter than almost every fish and could almost, almost, understand the humans and know what they intended. Their reports were just as important as Marinette's on the other side of the ocean levels.

They were loved by all because of their intelligence, their wit, their laughter, their family connections, and their personalities. They had no real enemies, save for the killer whale clans. Even in the deep waters, the Tench clan was fond of these dolphin clans and he knew Marinette thought of them with kindness. Their travel patterns included migratory food hunts, so they had no real place like his or Marinette's. They were the freest of all clans in that sense and many admired them because of that.

Surely, if they happened to visit during their wide travel range, there was meaning. If they happened to be here, most likely due to the latest troubles, it was the best of luck for Marinette to see them personally this one time.

But she was heavily injured and only one night of sleep wasn't enough to heal her tail so it could be used. Not that he had any problem with helping her cross the waters to see them, but he didn't want to force her to use whatever energy she was trying to build up.

But...he just knew she would be sad if she missed seeing both clans at once...

"Please Adrien, we must go soon. Please decide what you will do for you both."

He looked to his clan member and back to his princess. He looked back and forth, unable to finally answer, until he gave in and ignored his thoughts. He let his instinct decide for him...guiding him down to her to wake her.

"Marinette...Marinette...come on sleepy Tench, you must wake up now."

The thread of consciousness was hard to grasp. She groaned at the touch to her shoulder, to the gentle movement attempting to help her wake. Her eyes refused to open and her hands twitched in her attempt to move them and grasp something, though that was impossible.

After a second, something warm and big took hold of one hand and gave a very light squeeze. The muted touch of flesh sent enough of a sense to her mind that an eye slowly peeked open and she found light and water playing with blond hair just above her.

"Ad...rien...?" She croaked, trying to get her body to listen to her commands.

He smiled kindly and his hands went to her arms. He helped move her upright and watched with quiet happiness as she tried to wake up. "Sleepy Tench...our friends are coming here. I didn't know whether I should wake you to see them, but I knew you'd be sad to miss their sudden arrival."

Her head couldn't comprehend his words. "Friends?" The back of a hand went to rub at her face and found something covering it. She looked down and found kelp still over her fingers.

His smile widened. "Yes. The bottle-nose and white-sided dolphin clans are in the area."

At the mention of two very congenial clans, ones who she never thought ill of, that thread of consciousness expanded and decimated the sleep in her brain. She looked to him and smiled. She nodded instantly and let him lift them up. Blue eyes flashed as she looked to the sun above...to a tiger clan awaiting them. "I would have been very sad to miss greeting them personally."

He situated their arms so his wrapped around hers and swam for her without pulling her arm too harshly. "I'll help you get there." He gently explained.

He was so close and the warmth of his body melted into hers. She was always cold due to where she lived and how small she was. Her blood didn't move as well as his did and she wanted to press against him in the need to warm up. Her chest filled with numerous feelings at the look of concentration as he kept glancing to his tail as if to make sure it wouldn't touch hers.

"I know you will." She quietly murmured. He only smiled in response, never looking her way as he followed his clan member back to their reef home.

Gabriel swam toward them as the clan member went a different way, his duty now done. "Marinette." He greeted with a nod. Sharp eyes looked to his son, taking in every feature. "I see that there is no need to explain anything. I have been informed of their location and that they are currently waiting for us." He turned, an arm waving them with him. "Come."

The swim to the surface hurt her eyes and Adrien said she could close them for now while he guided her. She did as suggested and placed her trust in him for most of the distance until the light behind her lids posed less of a threat.

She opened them when he first broke the surface. There was nothing but the sound and sight of waves around them. The sun beat down through a beautiful blue sky. The heat given by the sun was enough to warm her, although Adrien's arms still attached to hers were so much better than the sun...

"Goodness, what happened to you silly Tench?"

Blue eyes flashed as she squinted, finding dark hair and skin coming closer. A genuine smile crossed her face as she met the eyes of both Alya and Nino. "It has been a long few suns." She bypassed, still attached to Adrien's side.

"You look like something terrible happened."

"Reef walls are quite sharp I will admit." Adrien mysteriously added with a grin.

Two dolphin-kin looked his way and instantly became curious at how the pair were holding onto each other. They were aware of the distance between the two clans, more than just the depth of the ocean.

Had been anyway...

Alya smiled and swam a tad closer. "Well, it looks like you two came out of the latest problems okay..."

"No worse for wear I might add..." Nino joked, grinning.

"How about we dive under for a bit of oxygen..." She suggested, face suddenly feeling a tad warmer.

Nino and Alya managed to float their backs above the surface for air and let the water breathers keep nearby so all could speak normally to each other. That however, allowed the dolphin-kin to see exactly how bad it had been for all lately.

"Goodness! What happened to your tail?!"

"Your hands Marinette!"

She turned away slightly, having forgotten how she looked. The pair didn't pry and she didn't hold their abrupt comments against them either. "There was a little...issue...with the reef lately..."

Gabriel swam closer to break up the questions on both dolphin-kin's faces. They were nice, but could be nosy at times and he wanted to get the important things done first. "That is why we're all here I assume." Sharp eyes looked to the two. "It has been a very troubling few suns and moons. I hope that you can give us some good information as to what has been happening above the upper waters. We also need to know if the humans will do anything because of this."

Alya's arms crossed with a look. "A man of action as always Gabriel..." She playfully muttered. Nino grunted an amused noise of agreeance, but turned a tad more serious.

Alya and Nino gave similar descriptions of their reports to everyone. Being creatures who lived both above and below the waves allowed them to collect many things which were useful to all.

They described tall waves that harshly crashed down and forced most dolphin-kin to hide under the water or get injured with the strength of the waves. The humans were nowhere near most of the areas they had been in and it had been a while since any had been seen. They both assumed that the high waves and noises from below had caused them to flee to land where it was probably safer.

All water breathers nodded at that comment. It was well-known that humans could swim in water to some degree, but when they were on those floatable things that kept them from touching open water, they were much worse off.

"I haven't seen any boats either." Nino added. "Which is strange, because they like the warm waters as much as I do in the south areas. I think that the high waves got all the way down to the South Pacific and affected those who live near the shores."

"Mine don't like the colder waters much." Alya contradicted. "They come up to fish on occasion, though the waves haven't been so bad to make that impossible." Her arms crossed in thought. "We hadn't passed by many fishing boats lately... Sad for our hunting possibilities."

Marinette went on next to describe in detail the issue that had happened in the depths. She gave extra information about Nathaniel's visit not too long ago and his issues with the vents. She went into her thoughts and worries about the whole thing being connected, plus her hopes that it was now all over.

Gabriel added information that had happened to the reefs about the same time as what happened to Marinette's area. He went into the measures he had taken for his clan and surmised that's probably what other reef clans were undertaking as well.

"We can go visit Chloe's clan next if you want and report back to you when we're done."

Gabriel held up a hand. "No need. One of my clan informed me they saw her in the distance. She looked to be taking her time in crossing the waters, but it seems she's coming here sometime soon with her escort."

Alya and Nino finalized the entire thing with hopes that all was now over and that perhaps the humans would remain on land and give them all some much needed space for a while. "They're a fun, but scared bunch of two legs." Alya commented with a smile. She glanced at Nino with a knowing look.

Nino smiled back and nodded in agreement. "Too true. They'll be back once the waves are calmer. If the water managed to reach over the shores, they may have some things to take care of on their end too." He sent the water breathers a kind look. "Don't let them worry you too much for now, okay?" His eyes strayed to Marinette's. "You seem to have enough to worry about as it is with the gasses in your lands right now."

Marinette nodded and looked forlornly to her tail. "It may be a good thing that I'm unable to return for a few suns. Perhaps by the time I get back, the smells will become less horrible and I'll be able to breathe easier in the pressure...as much as can be expected after this at least..."

"Just assume that the humans may want information from the depths, Marinette." Alya gently broke in. "I hate to give you worries that you don't want, but you have to consider that point too. They are as curious as dolphin-kin and they like to know what goes on below them, just like us. It may be a while, but I bet their boats will be out soon enough."

She nodded, grateful for that thought. "I'll take those words home to my clan. It'll be good not to relax too much in our home yet if they come to look for answers."

All information that could be shared had been shared and it was then time to say goodbye. The other dolphin-kin were a short distance away, waiting for the reports to be done with and hunting for food in the meantime. Alya and Nino added that they didn't want to miss out on the spoils, even if they wanted to stay and talk some more.

All youths took a little time in saying goodbye, Gabriel first to take his leave to allow them the time to do so.

"I can't believe you're personally above the surface, but hey...strange things have been happening lately so I suppose this just adds to it."

She smiled at Nino and nodded to him. "I will agree to that one."

"Stay safe Marinette. If luck or bad coincidence is upon us all again, maybe we'll see each other soon."

She laughed a little and extended a wrapped hand for Alya to take. "I hope it's good luck and not bad."

The pair watched from under the surface as the dolphin-kin swam away for their own pods. They stayed for a while in silence, Adrien's tail lightly kicking to keep them in their spot. They remained as the pair were spots above the water and even when they were entirely gone.

The feelings in her were so nice and she had never been this happy in her entire life. Throughout all the terror and helplessness over the last few suns, she had found this time with creatures she cherished as much as her clan...as much as Adrien.

At the thought of him, she became more aware of the warmth he provided to her arm and the silent companionship he gave. She looked to him with a smile. "Thank you." His eyes met hers instantly, his own curious. "For waking me. I would never have had such a time if I remained asleep. I would gladly trade the use of my body if it means I get to talk to such creatures again."

His lips tilted. "You don't need to thank me princess. I would do such things again so you can have good memories to take home with you."

Her chest filled with emotions for him as he pushed off for the reef. She stared ahead as they moved in open water for the reefs, though she was not afraid in the slightest. Her protector was here with her and he would do everything in his power to see to her safety and comfort.

It wasn't until she could see the fields in the distance that she voiced what her heart had been speaking ever since they started back. "I sure hope it's all over now..." She murmured.

"Marinette?"

"I was...so worried..." She pointedly ignored the eyes she felt were on her. "I worried that you would surely die this time. I couldn't have that. Even with as scared as I was, even over the pain, I needed to get you out of there. I would be so sad if you had never burst from that space to breathe ever again." She dared spare a look his way, finding intense green eyes on her. "I think that you are as precious as any of my own clan. That will never change."

They reached the kelp strands in silence. He was unable to say anything in response to her kind words that touched him as deeply as her rescues had. Anything he had to say would only mar the beauty of her sentiments to him and so he only took in her emotions, reveled in them, and kept them close.

They moved amongst shadows of the strands despite the sun still moving across the sky. She went back to the kelp bed, though a sense of regret filled her.

He released her and moved away to swim about the area so she could rest, but she extended a hand to his arm. "Marinette?"

She couldn't look at him through the next words she had to say. She didn't want to see the sadness on his face. "I...should head home within the next moon..."

His mouth opened to rebuke her, but he had no right to do so. He sunk a little to her level, but was unable to look her way. He stared hard at the kelp beneath her tail, feeling his chest crush a little with the pressure of his own feelings. "I...understand..." He murmured, unable to keep disappointment from his voice.

He knew it was selfish. He had no right to hope for an extended amount of time with her as he had last time. That first healing had cost her so much and she was still injured because of the inability to adapt to the pressure of the depths. He was only going to cause her prolonged pain if he asked her to stay much longer.

"I need to see what has happened to my home in the meantime." She quietly continued. She spoke as if she needed to make him see the need for her to head home, even if it was already there. "I need to see if my sibling has come back from the northern trench yet. I also need to let Nathaniel's clan know what happened up here. Everyone here will be anxious for more news after my travels too..."

He nodded. He would be sad during her absence until her return. The lack of brilliant flaring red would haunt his days and nights. He would have no one to chat with like she did with him, no one to endure his selfish hunts at odd times...

But...when she was done with her duties, she would return again, as she had before. That alone pushed back against the crushing feeling to know she would come back...even for a little while.

He gave a sudden smile and put a hand to her shoulder. "You should set out when the moon is upon us. Rest for now. I have something I must do. Please wait for my return."

She blinked at his cryptic words, but nodded and watched him swim away. He cut through the water with no hesitation; like he had something very important to do. She looked around at the dim light in confusion, but knew he'd be back. He wouldn't leave her side, even though she had to go home before she was well.

She looked to the kelp around her hands and used the sharp edges of her teeth to carefully tear one apart. She ate the strands as she undid the wrappings and checked on the health of her fingers. She flexed them now that they were free and found them painless. They didn't seem to have been too damaged by the reef walls. She nodded. Good.

Eyes looked to her tail as she bent over it and reached for her fins. She tore the strips apart, leaving those to fall to the dirt below, and looked at how her fins would be for the rest of her life.

There was a jagged line cutting into part of one side. It broke the once perfect design into a subtle new one. It wasn't as horrible as the pain made it seem; the bullet hole had been more of a scar than this. The hole was now gone; a starter for the rock to tear with.

Her lips tilted on their own as she stared. It wasn't so bad...she wouldn't even notice it soon. It would be a reminder of the time she spent with him, even if those times weren't the best ones.

01010

He arrived before the moon had a chance to shine through the kelp. Had her eyes not been so good with the smallest amount of light, she would have missed the familiar object in his hands.

Blue widened as she waited for him to reach her. She sat up against the kelp bed and reached a hand out to touch familiar kelp wrappings which had also been over her hands lately. "This...this is..."

He nodded and looked to her with soft eyes. "I discussed it with father while I was gone and we both agreed that you should use this for your journey home." He held out his mother's weapon, waiting until she grasped it and held it against her.

"If anyone is deserving of my family's weapon, it's you. You, who have saved me more times than should have happened...who have protected me just as my own kin would. You have the respect of my father and myself. You have my utmost loyalty and although I can't always be around to protect you, I hope you'll use this weapon in those times of need."

" _It was a memory of the first creature they had ever killed together. Another can always be made, but it's special to him. He passed it along to me after she was killed by humans. I...I actually asked for it as a memory of her."_

Her mouth fell open as she looked to the curved bone. She knew how important this was to him and yet he was letting her use it again! Even after she had almost lost it in the trench the first time. "I...I...have no words to say..." Hands gripped the hard bone to her chest and met his eyes through the water. "Thank you...thank you...!"

He grinned and took in the look of gratitude in her eyes. At length, he decided he had delayed the inevitable enough and extended a hand. "Come princess...the darkness is awaiting your return with news to your clan. I'll personally see you as far as I can go."

The swim was quiet, but not as sad as it could have been. Her mind was so full of thoughts about the weapon he had given her that she had no ability to speak for most of the journey. They made it through the middle waters as night came upon them; allowing her to see, but not him. She let his nose work for her as her eyes did for him.

They went slower than necessary because he wanted her to adjust as much as she could before being forced to deal with it for every heartbeat. She had braved pain and terror and no defense to bring his clan news, and he feared how bad she would be after she got home this time. She had talked about how her home was damaged and wondered if she had a space to rest safely in once she returned. If the caves had fallen apart, would she have a space in the depths like she had used in the reef walls?

She finally stopped at the point where she knew he wouldn't be able to take the pressure anymore. He was blind down here, but she saw him clearly with help from her tail. She stared at him for what felt like the span of the moon across the sky before her lips tilted and a laugh quietly escaped her. "I think that paralyzing you with my tail may have been the best thing for us as friends..."

He gave a noise of amusement and reached for her shoulder through the blackness. "I couldn't agree more Marinette..." He laughed as quietly as he could to keep everything from knowing where they were. His fingers rested on cold skin, unable to say more. There were many things he wanted to say, but most of them were pointless. She had heard them the last time anyway.

She knew he wanted to speak, but she interrupted him before she could hear the words that would make her want to stay. "I think that...this time...I may be a little busier than usual for a while... I fear I may be gone for a long time before my next report..."

He nodded. "I know father will send me out to other clans for their reports while you're below doing the same. Hopefully our busy days will be swift and then they will be better soon."

He wanted to finish that sentence with 'so we can see each other again', but kept himself from doing so. It would do no good to say such things. She would never be able to stay with him for obvious reasons and he with her. This was as good as they could ever do.

"Be safe on your journey Marinette..." He murmured, giving her shoulder a final squeeze before taking his hand away. "I'll hopefully see you soon."

"And I hope you don't do anything too stupid to satisfy your curiosity in the meantime Adrien." She quietly joked, lips slightly tilting. "Keep yourself well before we meet again..."

The pair mutually turned for their own lands and quietly headed back to their clans and homes.

 _Happy ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=wuLKvcn-c7A_


	14. Checking out the vents

Never had a swim home been more solemn and slow. Anytime she wanted to stop and paused amidst the feeling of wanting to go back up, she gripped the knife to her chest and forced herself to remember his words.

" _Although I can't always be around to protect you, I hope you'll use this weapon in those times of need."_

The warmth of his presence, his friendship, and his strength, filled her and allowed her to continue. He was still with her despite her being unable to actually see him.

He had given her his mother's weapon to use because he felt she deserved it and she had never been more touched at any other gesture in her young life. Words would never ever be able to fully describe the feelings she had in these seconds while she returned home. She was leaving the light and warm waters, his home, but as long as she had this weapon in her possession, she would always be able to think of her time with him in that space...of the kelp fields he cared for her in.

The emotions she experienced all the way down kept away the agony of the depths and made it easier to bear. Even when she could tell she had reached the lowest level of the oceans, the tingling in her body wasn't painful, but more of a slight annoyance. The discomfort in her tail was easier to ignore than it ever had been because she had his family's weapon in her hands.

It had never been more of a comfort than now. She didn't even fear the creatures in the dark as she headed home. The fact that she couldn't sense them because of her body's inability to do so never caused any worry. The times he had given her stayed with her, reminding her of the strength she possessed and the amazing feats she had done despite being a mere Tench. Holding the weapon made her invincible for the memories and feelings it gave more than the sharp end it presented.

Despite the longing to head back up, to see his face, once she reached the caves, the feeling of home and family assaulted her and made the pain disappear like bubbles at the surface.

Home...

The caves of the deep waters...dangerous and barren of plentiful food... Never had they been a better sight through the issues of late.

The main entrance was still blocked with rocks and she could understand why. The smells were still around, although they weren't as bad as they had been when the ground had opened up. In fact, she hadn't smelled them at all in the lower waters and it was only when she was almost down to the very bottom that she noticed it. She wanted to assume that such things meant her home was getting better and life would return to normal soon for them all.

The only good thing about the pressure was perhaps it had contained what could reach the surface...could reach him. He would never have to deal with the poison and perhaps now her family was safe from it as well.

When she called through the small hole at the top of the rocks, thankfully there were members in her clan waiting on the other side for her return. She was only delayed a few extra moments while they pulled some of the barrier aside for her to get through. After she squeezed past, she noted that the area had been entirely cleaned up, though some of the surviving algae was gone.

The pair expressed their worry at her extended absence again, wondering if the pain she had felt during the issue was still around and had made her journey worse than normal. She assured them that she was much better than she had ever been, though she never explained her mysterious words to them. She only smiled as she swam into the great space next to her clan, bypassing their curious words and confusion. They didn't press her past the few questions she didn't answer and thus gave up.

Instead of heading for her space to rest, she went straight for her parents to let them know she had arrived safe and sound. Her mother expressed obvious concern for her welfare and demanded to know why she was, yet again, so late in coming back after her report. She explained to their intent stares exactly what happened, adding the incident with Adrien, and finished with the information she got from the dolphin clans.

"It sounds like you've had yet another harsh time Marinette. Thank you for all your hard work in getting your information to the shark and dolphin clans." A hand lightly touched her shoulder. "Do you need to rest and adapt to the pressure? Your space has been cleared of all rocks for just that. If you need help, I can swim with you."

She smiled and slowly shook her head. "Thank you mama, but even though there is pain, I feel much better than I have in a while." Her hand touched the place over her heart, lips tilting further. "So much good has happened to me that I don't feel the same pain that I used to. I'm glad that I went up, even though I wasn't healthy enough to swim by myself."

"I'm happy for your friendship Marinette...even if it came from such hard times." Tom gently broke in, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You should still adapt to the pressure before you do much else. There is much to do yet and I don't want you to get hurt crossing the trenches."

She nodded to him. "I understand papa. I will rest for a little while and check in with my sibling later. I will head up to the northern trench after I've adapted to give my report from above and see how their lands look since my sibling has returned home."

"Rest well daughter."

She left the pair for the space she knew well, yet hadn't missed that much. It was her own spot in the caves on the bottom of the ocean and yet all she could remember were kelp fields which tickled her tail and provided easy food. This space of almost nothing, save for a few tiny patches of algae, was hers alone and yet she was reminded of the rocks crashing down in the borrowed space she used in the reef above.

This place which was hers had stopped becoming hers, though she would return to it time and time again to heal.

She floated in the water and went limp in both tail and back, though her arms pinned the weapon against her body. The pressure was there and it was unrelenting, but never had she had such an easier time dealing with it than now.

All because his mother's weapon was back in her tiny hands.

The last conversation echoed in her mind as she floated in the black. She didn't count heartbeats this time; didn't think of anything other than the kelp fields. Of meeting Alya and Nino with Adrien at her side. Of returning home safe with a means of defense as great as the toxins in her tail.

He would never truly know of the security he provided her with on the way back down after her time above. The past fear of not being able to sense things around her left her unable to know where a safe passage home was and that had always made her fear going back up later. Having this bone allowed her the ability to defend herself in a way that nothing else could.

She sent her gratitude through the water and wondered if it could get past the pressure to him. She hoped he could hear the thoughts and emotions she was feeling right now in this space. She knew once she got back to him later that she would have to tell him these things because she was foolish to think he could read her thoughts.

" _You don't need to thank me princess. I would do such things again so you can have good memories to take home with you."_

Or perhaps he could...

He wasn't just some brash, foolish, overly curious tiger clan shark-kin. He was so much better than she had ever initially thought him to be and nothing would ever take over the feelings she was experiencing right now. He would be told in time. She promised herself that next time she saw him, she would tell him exactly how much this act meant to her.

01010

The swim was cold, the pressure intense as always. None of it meant a thing as she expertly navigated through the dangers ahead, the weapon ready in her hands. She had taken the kelp wrappings off and secured them around her waist to be able to hold the weapon at her side once she reached the northern trench and Nathaniel's home. Only then would she stow it at her side, when the main danger had passed.

It had been so long since she had been here and it was such a strange feeling to visit Nathaniel's lands. She greeted him warmly at the entrance to his caves, accepting his praise for going up to report what was going on and get information for their clans. She denied anything so great, but took his gratitude with her as they went to find his parents for her report.

She had so much to give in such a short time that it was amazing to her. She asked the other Tench clan on exactly what her sibling had given them for a report and filled in where necessary. She told of her swim up, the rumbling up top, what had happened to Adrien's home during her time there, Gabriel's actions, the things his clan had found out, and meeting the dolphin clans. She went into the dolphin-kins' reports, finishing with their thoughts concerning the humans and her own about how she wanted to believe things were finally over.

"I very much want to agree with you Marinette." Nathaniel sighed. "Nothing would ease my clan's worries more than to know life will get back to is normal daily level of worry over being eaten by creatures with large teeth."

She smiled and listened to the travels he had been through while she had also been about. She was happy to learn that the rumblings had not gone any farther north than the northern trench and had not happened since that initial time. The depths had only seen trouble in their two trenches; nothing seemed to be so worried as they had been.

Hopefully, life could get past the terror of what happened and all could move on now.

She recanted the information given to her from her sibling and queried about changes to the vents his clan lived near in the time since. "Have you been there after my sibling left for our home? Do you know of any other heat problems?"

"If you like Marinette, I can show you them myself and we can go look together."

She nodded and left with Nathaniel immediately. The swim was mostly quiet. There wasn't much to worry about on the way there, although she had the weapon wrapped next to her side for easy use just in case.

None of the vents had broken like the ground near her home and the white smoke wasn't pouring from them, although the heat that had showed up before was still there. It made swimming around uncomfortable and the pair were unable to get to very close to see things. They went as close as they dared and she listened to Nathaniel describe what had happened to the area when the rumblings occurred at his home. The threads of worry tried to wrap around her despite the constant wish for it to all be over.

They left when being near such heat was unbearable and swam to a safer distance. She stopped and let her thoughts and worries be known to Nathaniel, whom she knew must have similar concerns. They were both Tench; worrying was a way of life for them as prey.

"What if it is truly over?" He countered, expressing what they both hoped for so much. He turned to the vents, seeing them with his keen eyes. "Nothing has happened since then and the predators have been seen again in the area. Our problem here is the heat, not the smoke like in your trench. If the smell has lessened like you say, perhaps it'll stop entirely and your waters will be easier to breathe in soon..."

"I hope you're right..." She muttered, turning to stare at the vents with him. The heat moved against her face as the waters slowly shifted around them. "No...I know you're right. I know that my wishes are correct and it's done. We just need to believe it."

"After what your sibling told me, I like to think that perhaps the ground is like the water in a way." Nathaniel's hands came out and the two stared at them as he put his palms together. "The ground moves, just like the water does." His hands slowly slid against themselves. "Even down here, where there are no waves and the pressure forces the water to be still, there is still movement." He pushed against his fingers and continued to slid them, forcing them to go slower due to the pressure he applied. "Perhaps the ground had such a hard time moving around that it cracked because it had nowhere else to go." His fingers slid off each other with one of the slides, mimicking the crack in her land.

His eyes met hers as hers did him at that move and gave an encouraging smile. "I've not been to see the break in the ground personally, but that's what it seems like to me. I don't want to be scared of such things when there are so many other things to fear already."

She smiled and nodded. "I like that explanation. I think I'll give it to my parents so they can tell my clan about it. Perhaps it will calm them as it has me."

She gave one last look to the vents before turning away for his home. "Recently, you said that the heat had risen horribly. Shortly after, the ground in my home broke. I think they are all connected and that the heat was trying to escape the ground. I want to hope that it will return to normal now that everything has passed. If what you say is true, and I think it is, the ground needed to churn up and escape whatever it was holding down. Now that it has, it will be still again for a time. Hopefully a long, long time."

They reached the caves of Nathaniel's clan and he expertly navigated his own series of tunnels. He swam into the large space to allow her in and went for the tunnel again once she was inside. "Please rest for as long as you need Marinette." He offered, an arm extending to the still water. "You've done so much for so many clans lately and I know you must be so tired. You deserve some time to sleep well."

She smiled and nodded. "I think I will rest for a bit before heading home. I can't stay though because I will need to report my findings here to others. They will want to know that nothing has become worse in your lands."

Nathaniel was silent for a at that. So much went through his head at those words and he exhaled a deep breath which spoke of turmoil in his mind. "You do too much for those who don't deserve it Marinette..." He mumbled, looking away.

Her head tilted. "What do you mean? We all rely on each other for different things. Every child of the ruling family must do their part to keep the information going where it needs to."

His head shook, red hair getting in his eyes. "You do more than most will!" He denied, chest becoming tight. A pressure stronger than what he lived in squeezed his ribs and made breathing harsher than normal. His tail brought him a little closer, a hand grasping hers. "You live in such pressure and are forced to swim to those who refuse to come down here, even though they could probably try even once! The pain it makes you go through after you return is unfair! The clans above should be forced to endure what you always do for us all!" His brow furrowed as he stared, fingers tightening around hers.

Such words were not new and she had once thought them many times herself. All the times she was stuck in her space, unable to twitch for fear of pain... Those many sore heartbeats which had only brought anger and loathing to those above. She knew it well...had known it well...

Her free hand came up and rested over his. She gave him a small smile, head bowing at how much she had changed. "I agree with your words. I won't lie and try to defend the other clans. Some of the children are selfish and horrible. They despise us because of where we live, but I think that's because they're too afraid to bear the pressure that we're used to. My thoughts were what you just said...used to be as you just said..."

" _I'm_ _glad_ _I_ _took_ _you_ _up_ _to_ _the_ _human's_ _world._ _I_ _would_ _have_ _never_ _come_ _to_ _know_ _you_ _otherwise._ _I_ _wish_ _that_ _perhaps_ _I_ _could_ _spare_ _you_ _the_ _pain_ _you_ _will_ _feel_ _upon_ _your_ _return_ _home,_ _but_ _we_ _both_ _know_ _I_ _would_ _never_ _last_ _long_ _in_ _the_ _deep_ _waters."_

Her lips twitched, chest swelling as his golden hair and soft smile filled her mind. "I used to think that way, but I've come to change my mind. They're just different from us, but that doesn't make them bad. We are all used to what we know and as Tenches, it's easy for us to not want to leave the safety of our caves. I imagine it must be similar to some of those who can't handle the pain which such pressure would give them."

"It puts such pain upon you too and yet you deal with it."

"I have come to see it in a different way. I've seen things and clans that I would never get to talk to if I never would have gone up above. I see that as a great learning experience and it's changed my views of some clans for the better. I hope that someday you'll be able to meet some of them as I have and you will see the good and honor in them as I now do."

"I wouldn't care if I never go that far above. I don't like to be away from the pressure of the deep waters. Even going around the lower waters is strange. The fear of being in open water that robs me of the sense to feel those who would try to eat me is too strong. I don't care to meet the other clans either. I just wish they would put in some of the work that you do, but I'm also glad that they can't come down here. We'll never have to be bothered by those predators coming into our homes."

Her lips tightened a little as she looked away. She didn't try to convince him further. He had his reasons and she once felt the same way. It was only by sheer terror of the wharf that had changed her opinion. He would only know through his own experiences and he had to be the one to decide to do so in the first place.

It was a hard thing to overcome the fear that every Tench possessed, but she knew she was stronger because of it. She hadn't forgotten who she was, but her time with Adrien had brought out the hidden strength she never knew existed. She wouldn't trade such a discovery for all the safety Nathaniel cared for.

He gave her hands one last squeeze before slowly heading to the tunnel. He paused and turned her way again. "Someday soon, I hope that your times will get better." His eyes darted to the rough ground below. "Perhaps...once our clans merge after our youth is over, you won't have to go through so much." He gave her a soft look, hands still on the surrounding rocks. "You can have the rest you deserve and leave it up to our children to undertake."

She looked away at the mention of the future. Such things were obvious, but lived in the back of her mind with all of the changes she had undergone lately.

In a few more turns of the tide and the moons above, she would lose her youth and become an adult. She would either take over for her family or Nathaniel's and be in the depths for a long time. She would lose the ability to see everything and go everywhere for her reports. The things she had already seen and the things she would soon see would only become memories for her to go back to. She would take care of her own clan instead of taking care of many.

"Such things will probably happen in the future, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the times that I have now." She murmured, feeling as if the space had shrunk in her discomfort. "There is so much left that I still need to learn so that I can pass that information on to our brood. This means that I must continue to do what I can...to go where I can."

Nathaniel looked away, boring hard eyes into the cave walls, before giving a silent nod and swam away to let her rest.

 _Ambiance_ _music:_ _y_ _outube com/watch?v=FBMPtZ6gANA_


	15. Returning the knife

Traveling around the deep waters and lower waters doesn't give one the ability to keep track of the suns and moons with no sunlight to go by. Seconds are counted by heartbeats and when sleep is necessary. The time she spent going from her cave to Nathaniel's, to the clans in the lower waters, and finally back to her own made her feel like moons had come and gone. Perhaps they had...

The time she spent traveling around getting and giving information had seen much improvement in the earlier troubles. The gasses had become nothing more than an annoyance near her home and so long as her clan avoided that specific area, they were in no danger of breathing difficulties. The pressure claimed everything, as it always did, and forced the gasses to the ground, where they ended up in the trench nearby. If anything lingered higher than the depths of the trenches, it was too sluggish to get to the caves anymore. The regular dangers of being eaten had returned, although they had become slightly less after the terror which all hoped never to see again.

She stayed home in her space for quite some time after all was done. Not because she was in any noticeable pain, but just to stay at home and see her clan for a while. She always worried about them during her travels and hoped they were doing okay. It was never easy to head home and then have to leave shortly after; she felt that she lost out on memories with them because of her duties. The time she had spent traveling around was a great loss of time with them ever since the earth rolled.

Now that things were calm as the waters below, she selfishly took some moments in the tunnels to reacquaint herself with their intricacies.

Initially, the weapon remained on the cave floor, carefully wrapped up in the kelp it was originally in. It remained that way for many visits in and out of her space until she eventually started taking it with her on hunts for food in open water. She used it with more and more skill each time, wondering if the surge she got while using it was what predators felt when they found a kill.

Whenever she'd put it back on the rough ground, she made sure the kelp was secure and nothing would mar the intricate carvings lovingly put there. She would never harm such a gift again and thinking back to the first time made her cringe that such a thing would ever happen a second time.

It was only when she was accustomed to her space, spent enough time talking with her family, that she started looking for the weapon a little more. Started wearing it a little more. Starting idly touching the carved handle at odd times.

At the start of such habits, she never thought anything of it when she did so. The movement was more of a silent thing, unnoticed to most in the pitch black. She barely even registered she had done so until after the action was completed and her arm was moving back to her side. She'd give a look to her hand, as if her fingers had moved on their own, before shaking her head and letting her hand continue its return journey.

It was only during one quiet pause in her space when blond hair flashed in her memories and she started to wonder how he was doing.

How long had it been since her last trip? Perhaps the moon had completed so many arches across the sky that it had changed shape a few times. She wouldn't know unless she went up there again. Down here, she could only wonder...swimming around the perpetual blackness...

There seemed to be no real reason to head up yet. Time froze as it returned to normal and life became boring. The scare was over and the clans had relaxed. What was there to head up for right now?

She looked down when the touch of carved bone met her fingertips.

She stared in the direction of her fingers, only noticeable by the dull glow of her tail. She stared hard, frowning as she wondered what to do. There was no important information to give and just going up to say that all was well seemed pointless. They would have known that everything was okay after so much time of nothing.

It was only when she started touching the kelp wrappings, her teeth wanting to break them apart and eat it, when the fields returned to her.

She could picture everything in her mind as clearly as if she were there. The gentle sway from the waves above, the muted light, the feel against her skin...the silhouette of the figure that had swam around tirelessly during the day while she healed...

She started to spend more time in her space with the weapon hugged against her torso and wonder what he was doing...how he was doing. A sense of sweet agony filled her chest and crushed it in ways that had never happened to her before. It was nice, yet sad and encompassing. Heartbeats ticked away in her home as she chatted with her clan and family, and hunted for food...yet he was always on her mind as the heartbeats collected.

As more time passed, the more she thought of him, the more breathing became hard to bear. Holding the knife against her and thinking of him didn't comfort her anymore. The longing to see golden sunlight sway in the water mounted little by little...had snuck up on her the more she found herself holding the carved handle.

There was such a struggle. She had finally the time to be where she belonged, where her clan was...yet she wanted to leave and head up. To see him. To say hello. To see his smile and speak with him.

" _You_ _can_ _have_ _the_ _rest_ _you_ _deserve_ _and_ _leave_ _it_ _up_ _to_ _our_ _children_ _to_ _undertake."_

Soon...soon she wouldn't be able to leave this area because she would have her clan to look after for many endless nights. She couldn't leave them alone to see the other clans because, as she was witness to, sometimes she would be gone for days and nights for just one visit. If she was in charge of so many lives and injured hers, as had happened twice in such a short time, they would have no one to look to should something sudden happen, like with the ground splitting.

It was the responsibility of the children to go around and bring news from clan to clan because the parents were busy doing many other things at home. The labor of the children connected everyone with such dire news and kept things going. It was hard to send them away from home so much, but through the toils, they learned things no one else in the clans did and thus were the best fit to rule after reaching adulthood. The connections they made to the children of other rulers helped future relations and also kept things from becoming hostile.

Such a thing would happen to her before she knew it. She would be called upon to handle much greater tasks than what she had been doing for so long now. She would be able to live in her own lands, what she was born into and accustomed to living in. She would be able to spend as many moments with her clan as she wished; could swim in and out of the tunnels at her leisure.

But, soon...she would never be able to see the sunlight anymore.

It was a long swim to the surface from here. The middle and upper waters were far from the darkness. Even in the event that her reports were uneventful, the danger in returning caused her to use more time should she head up when it happened to be daytime. She couldn't leave her clan alone during such times. She couldn't be selfish and wish to go up there anymore once she took over...and she would take over once she fully became an adult. Her sibling would go to another clan and Nathaniel would most likely come here.

She clutched the weapon to her chest tightly as those thoughts invaded her mind. The sadness that came with them was about enough to crush her bones despite where she was.

These times were good and she would just have to enjoy what she had left to the fullest. She would need to make a lot of amazing memories while she had the ability to now. They had become so precious to her since her first stay above and, despite her earlier thoughts toward the clans above, she wouldn't wish these memories from her mind for anything.

A hand idly floated down to the fin pooled at the bottom of her space. She ran thin fingers around the webbing until she found the split. The pain had gone long ago; now all that was left was the new tear in her tail.

" _You're perfectly safe when I'm around."_

Her lips tilted.

" _You, who have saved me more times than should have happened...who have protected me just as my own kin would. You have the respect of my father and myself."_

Soft eyes looked to the dull glow of her tail and spread the fin out to catch the tear in better light.

" _I fear that this time around won't be as quick as a mere bullet hole..."_

It looked strange, the line near the middle of the fin. It didn't go all the way to where it connected with the tail and it looked like she had been born that way, but she knew better.

 _Seconds_ _later,_ _something_ _came_ _through_ _the_ _water._ _It_ _was_ _small_ _and_ _fast,_ _mostly_ _silent,_ _but_ _heavy. It punched a hole right through part of her fin...drawing blood and sending a stab of pain through her muscles._

So many things she would always be able to take with her until the end of her days. As strange and terrifying as they had been when she was there, they were mementos of her time above. Her injuries healed, the scars weren't that noticeable, and she gained much from it in the end.

" _I think that paralyzing you with my tail may have been the best thing for us as friends..."_

She gave a noise of amusement and clutched the weapon to her again. She let out a sigh after a second that spoke of much; of the contrast to remain and yet to go. It squeezed her chest so tight that breathing was hard and left her conflicted beyond anything she ever had to decide. Not even when the weapon fell into the trench did she ever have such a hard decision to make!

There was no real need to head up...and yet, there was.

She stared at the handle, felt the kelp wrappings against her fingers. She stared for many heartbeats until she slowly brought the weapon to her mouth and took a small bite out of the kelp. It tasted much better than anything she could ever find in the depths and she took two more mouthfuls before forcing herself to stop.

She would have to put such thoughts out of her mind because she would have to be content with snow and the algae she could find...perhaps the occasional hunt in open waters. But many of those fish weren't anything other than thin bones and gooey flesh.

" _Do you even get to eat real fish down there?"_

She quietly laughed despite the emotions assaulting her. She didn't fault him for those words because they were true. Once she stayed in the depths, she would never be able to eat the flesh of those that lived above. She would have to be content with the creatures that were out to kill her as well...should she be so daring to go after one first.

She put the weapon on the bottom of the space in effort to forget it all for just a little longer. She forced everything from her mind for what felt like the longest time until her eyes strayed back to the bottom of the space.

Within heartbeats after, she was slowly moving down to grasp the handle again.

There was no real reason to head up, but...it wouldn't hurt to go anyway. To let everyone know that the dangers had passed and find out what had been going on above in the meantime...

01010

The only reason she knew it was night above was the fact that the blackness hardly changed until she was halfway through the middle depths, and only because of her keen eyes and ability to pick up so much from so little.

She headed back to the place she knew, had missed, had been unable to forget. There were a few who noticed her approach to the reef walls and neared. They greeted her in a much friendlier manner than she was ever accustomed to getting, especially during the night, and she only knew what happened when they recanted how Adrien told the entire clan how she saved him in the caves.

He knew of the treatment she was used to receiving and had set out to change that somehow. From the congenial looks on the shark-kin, he must have done quite a bit. She wondered just what he said to make her so well-received.

She let the pair direct her to Gabriel in silence. She looked around the walls she could see due to her excellent sight as if the sun were out. It felt strange to be back, though it was a nice feeling. It expanded in her chest more than the lack of pressure did. It had been a while, yet nothing changed. It was like she was only away for a mere heartbeat rather than so many trips around the bottom of the ocean.

Try as she might to forget it, Nathaniel's last words of her staying in the depths during her adulthood went through her mind. It filled her with a sense of sadness now that she was actually up here again going to see Gabriel. She knew the time would come, but she was praying that those days would not happen for a long, long time.

"It's good to see you well this time Marinette."

The depths were wiped from her mind as she met a pair of sharp, yet kind eyes. She smiled as Gabriel met her across the way. They paused in the middle of the open space, the others swimming off to let them talk in private. "It feels like it's been too many suns and moons Gabriel. I feel like I would have forgotten the journey with as long as it's been."

Gabriel's lips twitched. "It has definitely been a long time for your report. I hope all is well in your home now."

She nodded and went right in with the description of the white clouds and how the break in the ground seemed to have stopped whatever it was doing. She explained how the clan had unbarred the cave entrance with the lack of poisoning and had started to hunt for food in open waters again.

She quickly finished up with her home and went right into her visit to the northern trench. She described the vents and how the heat was still a concern for Nathaniel's clan, but she went into his explanation about the break in the ground and how she felt that it was all done now. The times below were still again, thus proving her hopes true. The vents would always make extensive heat and perhaps his clan could adjust to it after such a length of time.

"Marinette! You're back!"

She jolted to the voice and her name, eyes widening. "Adrien..." She murmured, watching him hurry up to them. Her heart swelled at seeing him and she took his hand when it extended to her. "I see that your curiosity hasn't injured you while I was away." She joked, giving him a smile.

He easily laughed and mimicked their vertical positions in the water. "Not for lack of trying, I assure you." He quipped, feeling the chill of her flesh against his. "Some of the clan said they saw you approaching the caves and thought I'd like to know about it. I'm very glad they said something."

She looked away, feeling overwhelmed at the happiness in his eyes. "I was just giving my report to your father. Thankfully, there's not much to say with things back to normal."

He nodded, feeling relief that she hadn't had a worse time in her home since she left. "I'm happy to hear that."

"Things have also returned to normal around here as well." Gabriel added. The two youths looked his way and he went into how the waves returned to their normal, unpredictable state of being still or rough in a storm. The rumbling noises had stopped entirely before she left for home and never returned. Hunting for food was its usual challenge again.

"The best part is that the humans haven't been seen much since you went below." Adrien added, lips tilting. "That makes hunting out in open waters even easier...especially at night."

She gave him an amused look at the squeeze to her fingers. She ignored the look in his eyes as he stared at her with those words. "I suppose I wouldn't mind a little food for the return trip, but that will have to happen after the report is finished."

Gabriel's head shook. "I do believe it was over the second my foolish son came up." A hand landed on a tanned shoulder. "Take this Tench out for a good meal for her return home after her hard work."

Adrien grinned at his father. "I plan to do so."

She looked back and forth between father and son with amusement. She could only shake her head and give her brief goodbyes to Gabriel as Adrien tugged her away.

"What do you think we'll find this time?" He asked, already sniffing through the water. "Let's hope it's another big one like that great white. They have the best meat aside from the hammerhead clans."

"I'll be happy with most anything at this point." She quietly replied, face soft.

He smiled. "Too much snow down there?" He playfully muttered. "Don't you get out and go hunting in open waters when you're at home?"

"Not like up here you silly shark-kin."

He turned her way with a smile and noticed the weapon strapped to her tail. He missed it the first time he saw her again, it being on the other side and all. Just seeing that she kept it with her, wondering if she often did so, made him happier than he thought he ever would be at such a sight. He paused in the journey and turned to face her. "You have mother's weapon with you."

She blinked and looked to her tail before nodding. "It's so normal for me to wear it now. I forgot I had it on..." She muttered, looking into open waters. A hand absently touched the handle again, which wasn't unnoticed by a pair of green eyes.

The gesture touched him, especially when she looked down as if surprised at having grasped the weapon. She shook her head with an annoyed look...as if she had often done so, but was unable to stop. Such actions spoke much during their time apart and he wondered about her more now than she was here with him.

He beamed and grasped her hand before swimming again. "Let's go! Your report is done and there is very little time left before you head back."

01010

It had been too nice to spend time with him again. He was just as playful as ever; his curiosity the most troublesome thing. She missed all of it.

"I'd better head home before the sun shows up." Blue eyes flashed as she looked to the top of the ocean, finding the moon almost done in its trail across the sky.

Her words stung, but he knew she had to go. He quietly nodded and swam beside her as they went down through open water, falling farther and farther into the blackness. It had been so long since she had come up and now she was leaving already. He enjoyed talking with her every single time, but now he would be unable to do so until she needed to come up again. With as quiet as things had become after the scare, he wondered how long it would be before her next journey.

He supposed that was a given though. She didn't belong up here. The upper waters were his home, not hers. She belonged in the dark and the pressure. She crossed the depths to provide information and get what she needed to help her clan. She did horrible work and was forced to deal with such intense pain after she returned home. While he missed talking to her when she was here, he didn't want to be so selfish to force that agony on her just so he could see her again.

She paused when they hit the depth where he needed to head back up. She remained quiet for heartbeats, unable to force the words past her tongue. At length, still unable to say the words, she slowly went for the wrappings around her waist and pulled the weapon from her side.

"This belongs to you." She murmured, holding it out. She reached out for the hand she could barely see as she knew he wouldn't be able to see her. "Thank you for letting me use it while I was away for so long. I must admit that I'm thankful for the assistance during my dark travels and it's been a better weapon than my own toxins ever were."

His fingers wrapped around the handle before he recognized what he was touching. The second his mind connected with the item, he pushed it at her with a smile. "Then you can continue to keep using it for as long as you need princess."

She stared at him with wide eyes, the meaning of his words going through her mind. She was happy, yet confused and guilty. "N – no! This is yours. Your precious family weapon given from your father to your mother! I could never keep it! Why would you think that I could ever take such an item of value from you?"

"I insist Marinette."

"You shouldn't!" She denied, fingers squeezing the kelp as her emotions tried to crush her chest again. "I was away for so long; I can't possibly use your mother's memento for such a length of time again! It's yours; you should keep it. It's not fair of me to take it for so long again. Who knows when I'll be able to come up again?" Sad eyes stared to the weapon their hands were around. "Who...who knows...how many more trips I can make? What if I head home after a report and it's my last? I won't be able to leave my clan alone just to return it, but I wouldn't be able to have anyone else who would know the way, let alone trust to return such a valuable item to you. We'll all have our responsibilities to attend to and won't be able to see each other again soon."

"If you are so worried about being unable to return it," His hand found her shoulder and lightly squeezed, "then don't."

Her eyes jolted to his, wide in surprise. "You...mean -"

"Keep it for as long as you need it Marinette. It means as much to you now as it does to me." His smile widened as he thought to the automatic touch to the handle she didn't know she was doing. "It seems to have been a great help to you and it will make me very happy to know that, even if we're never to see each other again for our future duties, I can still protect you and keep you safe my friend. I will still be with you, even on the other side of the ocean."

Her mouth dropped open as his words pierced her heart. The sweet agony of what he meant, of what he spoke, had her taking the weapon from his lax grip. She gently held it against her chest, feeling the kelp touch her flesh. "Th – thank...you..." She whispered, looking to it. "This means so much to me. Thank you..."

He gently smiled and took his hand from her shoulder. "Don't worry or be sad for the future Marinette. Our lives change with the ocean and we must flow with it or it will hurt us if we try to swim against it. There is little else we can do. Even if your waters don't move, the pressure is the same way. It pushes against you all the time and you go slow and do what you must to live your life as best you can. Even when we take over for our clans, we will still be able to know of each other. Our children will visit and bring news. We will never truly be apart."

Her fingers gripped the weapon. The crushing feeling in her chest intensified at his words and touched her more than she ever thought it would. He had not forgotten her, nor she him, during their time apart and she knew that he never would forget her. Never.

"I don't think I've never met a more brave and amazing fish than you. Such an impression will always stay with me and anyone else that I meet in the future will always be compared to you. You, my precious friend. I hope...no, I know we will be friends and comrades into our adult years when we have our clans to worry about. We will have our memories in times of need and we can bring word to each other if we ever need it."

It took too many heartbeats to be able to speak. His words formed a lump in her throat and it tried to cut off the ability entirely. "I wholeheartedly agree. We'll forever be friends and I'll never forget our times together. Our children will work together in the future and perhaps mine will make the distance to see your home..."

He smiled. "Perhaps I'll make one of mine finally brave the pressure to give a report to you."

She laughed and shook her head. "Silly shark-kin..." She took a deep breath to steady her feelings and stared at him. "Please have a safe journey home Adrien. I wish you well until we're able to meet again."

He smiled gently and nodded, tail slowly pushing him to the surface. "Safe journey princess...my friend..."

She remained where she was for a long time, eyes trained up as she watched him swim away. She watched his form disappear in the darkness, waiting in open water in silence until she knew he was gone. She couldn't smell him, couldn't hear the beats of his tail. He had vanished from the lower waters for the upper waters.

She slowly looked to the weapon she had carried for so long. She had been granted a much longer time and was more thankful than she had ever been at such a gesture.

Hands idly found the strands she knew so well and wrapped the weapon to her side. It was a familiar gesture, but it meant something more now. It would stay with her for as long as she wanted it to and she would treasure the weapon as much as he did...even more than he did.

"Time to head home..." She murmured, tail adjusting her to the bottom of the ocean.

 _Sad ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=v8KZ4DZmsf0_


	16. The youth of tomorrow

"Please send my son here. I wish to speak with him."

"Yes Marinette. Please wait while I find him. I believe he was in the tunnels last I knew."

She nodded and watched one of her clan swim away. Within moments, two returned, her son in tow. He stopped in front of her while their clan member swam away. "You wished to speak to me mother?"

She smiled and rested a hand on his arm. "I heard you had to head out to give your report soon and I wanted to wish you a good journey."

There was an return sigh to the well-wishes. "Why can't my sister go instead of me?" He complained, looking unhappy. "The pressure is always so hard to handle whenever I come back to it! Going up there takes away all my senses away and it's so scary."

She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Believe me when I say that I understand your worries and words my son. I went on the same journey you know. It's a long, scary journey, but it's good to toughen you up."

"If I'm not eaten first."

She laughed at the sour attempt at a joke. She hugged the youth for a moment before releasing him and watching as he swam away with final partings. "Be safe my son." She murmured, watching him disappear through the hole.

"He'll be fine Marinette. He's made the swim many times before and has returned to us. Believe in him."

She looked to Nathaniel at her side and nodded. "I believe he has the ability to avoid danger. I know he'll return."

A hand clasped the handle of the weapon which hadn't left her side in a long time. A fond smile appeared as she momentarily went with her son through the blackness, wondering if it would be daytime or still night up above.

"Mother? Father? Where should I head out to?"

"There you are daughter..."

She jolted to when Nathaniel swam forward to greet the next of their kin. She watched the pair embrace, idly taking note of the shocking red hair, before father looked to his daughter. "Please check on the rest of my clan up north. Please let them know how Marinette's clan has been since your last report."

"Please be careful on your way daughter." She added, swimming a little to the youth. A hand reached out and wrapped around such a tiny shoulder, giving a squeeze. "Remember to be careful of enemies and flee when necessary. Avoid all lights that move and if you touch anything in open water, swim as fast as you can."

"That's not a problem mother." The youth smiled. "I took after you in cleverness. I believe it has helped me immensely and I'll be fine."

She nodded and let go. "Safe journey."

She watched the second of their brood swim away as the pair stayed in the large second of the tunnels. The cave of her home had now become hers full-time what felt like forever ago, but it had long since become normal.

Her hand strayed to the weapon again and she wondered if she should have loaned it to her daughter for the travel up north or not. The youth was correct in that she was very smart in many things going on in the depths and had yet to encounter anything truly scary.

Nathaniel stared across the way as Marinette fingered the handle. It had become such a habit that he didn't think much to it. It was a gesture of fondness and she often smiled when doing so.

His head tilted a little, giving an encouraging smile. "Do you want to head up with our son this time? It has been quiet for a long time and I'm sure those above wouldn't mind..."

She jolted, hand jerking away, as she met kind eyes. "No!" She quickly denied. She looked away, shaking her head. "No...my home is here. My place is here. It's always been here. I can't just leave it for some selfish desire." Her lips tilted. "I'm sure there will be a greeting awaiting me when our son returns. I should have sent one with him. Perhaps next time..."

She stared at the exit both children had taken mere heartbeats ago. "It's just sad that we must force our children to endure what we had to do for the sake of everyone. I know that our son would prefer to spend more of his time down here with the rest of our clan than swim to the upper waters for his report."

He smiled. "I think that may come from me I'm afraid. It's just sad that the clans from the upper or middle waters can't come down here for a change."

Such comments hadn't changed in a long time. Perhaps they never would. "At least they swim the distances around the human rock for us so that our children don't have to. I believe that Adrien has taken it upon himself to send his children to Chloe's clan so that ours don't have to spend even more time above and endure a harsher adaptation after returning home."

"If such a thing is true, that's very thoughtful of him."

She nodded, mind already leaving the tunnels and heading through the black waters. She thought back to bright waters filled with nothing but sunlight and golden hair. A gentle smile and extended hand. Of course he would have thought of such a thing for her sake; he knew very well how hard the return home was and he was making sure her son didn't have to go through that as much as possible.

A gentle smile slowly appeared as she thought to him. She wondered what he was doing; if he was out hunting, if he was sleeping, if he was speaking with his own children as she just was. She jolted a little when she realized she was touching the weapon. She looked to it, but didn't pull her hand away.

"I think I'll head out for a little hunting." She murmured, waiting for Nathaniel's well-wishes before moving.

The silence outside the cave was forever there, but it wasn't scary any longer. It had stopped becoming scary a long time ago. This was her home, the place she was born and would die in. The place her children had been born in and were growing up in. She would never hate nor fear such a place any longer. Even when she visited the crack in the earth, now just another hole in the ground, she wasn't scared.

She slowly cut through the water, fingers lightly against the handle as she pulled it from the wrappings keeping it at her side. The scar in her tail pulled and shifted where scales no longer existed. She winced a little when too powerful of a push moved it too much for comfort.

" _What_ _are_ _you_ _doing?!"_

" _Just_ _hold_ _still._ _I_ _don't_ _know_ _what_ _this_ _thing_ _can_ _do."_

" _That's_ _the_ _human's_ _thing!_ _You_ _put_ _that_ _down_ _right_ _now!"_

" _Nothing_ _is_ _going_ _to_ _happen._ _I_ _just_ _want_ _to_ _see_ _how_ _it_ _works."_

So he said and then shot a bullet right by her tail. It only brushed against the side, taking off some scales and making that spot unable to release toxins ever again. The amount of guilt he showed after she healed was apparent even when he took her home.

It was hard to grip the weapon with one less finger on one of her hands. She made sure to counter for it with her good hand.

" _It's_ _not_ _good_ _to_ _hunt_ _for_ _food_ _so_ _close_ _to_ _the_ _rocks_ _like_ _this_ _you_ _know._ _Things_ _hide_ _in_ _the_ _rocks_ _and_ _like_ _to_ _surprise_ _attack_ _you."_

" _Do_ _you_ _know_ _how_ _many_ _times_ _I've_ _been_ _this_ _close_ _to_ _the_ _reef_ _in_ _search_ _of_ _food?_ _Nothing_ _has_ _come_ _at_ _me_ _yet_ _and_ _I_ _have_ _a_ _much_ _better_ _sense_ _of_ _smell_ _than_ _you_ _do._ _Even_ _in_ _such_ _a_ _lack_ _of_ _pressure._ _I'll_ _be_ _fine."_

Those were the most foolish words she had ever spoken. A moray eel shot out from the hole, jaws wide open. It managed to grab hold of the end of a hand she raised in defense and bit a finger off when Adrien tried to get it away from her. The eel managed to put a thin scar in Adrien's cheek with its tail as it thrashed around. Of course, he killed it without mercy, but the amount of blood she lost because of it had him scared for a long time to come.

So many scary memories she held dear before she remained here forever. Whether it was her fins, her tail, her hand, or the scarred skin on her upper arm. Each scar was a memento of her time with him and whenever the weapon wasn't enough to sustain her thoughts of him, she would think to her injuries and the time afterward.

She accepted her adult life with grace and seriousness, not feeling too sad after a while when she forgot what his voice sounded like. After so many dark nights, all she could remember were youthful tail strips, yellow hair, and green eyes.

Her clan needed her and, now more than ever, she couldn't find herself to leave them for any need to swim above. She had to think of more than just herself. She wouldn't let Nathaniel be alone should something happen to them all. She would never forgive herself for being away if the ground ever rolled again.

Though she couldn't bring herself to leave, she always had the option to go. Nathaniel was very understanding of her thoughts to the world above and she knew he wouldn't mind if she was gone for a sun or two. He knew she would come back to where she belonged and she knew she would too. Her home and her clan were here. Her children would return here after they were done with their reports. She would miss them greatly if she didn't get to spend time with them after they got back.

She looked in the direction of up as she remained still in the water. She wondered if her son had cleared the lower waters or not. Perhaps some day soon she would go with him during his report and greet everyone again. She had the option...but it would not be today. For now, it was time to let the children build up relations for the future as she had for herself. Their job was to bring information to as many clans as possible and keep everyone connected.

The ocean, being as vast and different as it was, was governed by so many beings to keep control to the ever-shifting tides. Order had been established for a long time and certain families would be in charge of communicating various things in their area to other clans. Such was the job of the children. Her job was here and would be long into the future.

 _Soft ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=FOIjvHjK0Rw_

m(_ _)m

Thanks for reading! This is the first one that I wrote where these two dorks didn't end up together like we all know they will. I was never very interested in this for most of the chapters, but I'm glad that I wrote it. It's been an interesting write and has done much (aside from add a mermaid notch to the list of Aus). Thanks for staying till the end. Thanks to Maysoulrose on Tumblr for the inspiration and I hope this story gives you inspiration in return to make more art for the story.


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